Whisper of the Wind
by DawnnsGrace
Summary: The Sanzo group is camping out for the night. While Goku is out fetching wood, he gets distracted by a girl in a bird cage who apparently knows his past and is quite desperate to get out. GokuxOC.
1. Song of the Caged Girl

The Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 1: The Song of the Caged Girl

"**Goku,** fetch some wood." Sanzo ordered as he lit up another cigarette.

The group was stopping a little early today. The cliché small army of weak youkai had attacked wasting their time in a typically violent fashion. The small insignificant difference this time was that they did it in the late evening. That meant only that the group would be stopping now a short distance from the carnage instead of an hour or so when it really was dark.

Goku grumbled more out of habit then anything else. He quickly went of to gather the wood without any real argument. Hakkai always liked to tell him, the faster that he gathered the wood, the faster that Hakkai could begin cooking. Food was of course, the fastest way to end an argument with Goku.

It didn't really matter that much either. Gathering wood was easy. You went as far as you would, turned around, and started picking up wood on your way back. Nothing complicated about it. The problem that Goku sometimes had with this assignment however was that on numerous times his curiosity would over ride his constant hunger. This was one of those times.

Something was different about this forest.

Goku didn't bother picking up any wood. He stood quietly where he was for a long while just listening. The normal forest sounds could clearly be heard. He couldn't smell anything wrong but that didn't mean anything. While the wind wasn't strong it was persistently blowing away from him. Any dangerous smells in front of him wouldn't be able to reach even his nose.

Not one to simply shake a curiosity off, Goku continued towards the presence that drew him forward. Now he could hear something else. The wind was whistling through something hollow, maybe a fallen and hollow tree or something. Goku started walking a little faster. Then he heard more then the wind now, someone was singing.

And that was how he found her, singing while sitting in a stone bird cage covered in wards about four feet above the forest floor and domed. Her sparkling silver strands of hair glistened like spiders silk. Her head bobbed somewhat like a bird to the sweat melody of her own voice. She seemed slender and small as her bare feet swung back and forth in rhythm. She wore pure white little shorts and a long and baggy tank top scrunched up around her waist. She looked to be about eighteen, Goku's age.

Goku being the complex creature that he was said the first thing that came to mind. "Pretty," he whispered to himself.

The girls storm black eyes snapped to his face instantly. The song was dead and forgotten as she scrutinized every inch of him with a slightly perplexed look on her pale, sharp face. Then the confusion cleared and was replaced with a look of … recognition.

"Goku, long time no see. What's it been five hundred years or so? You look nice." She said wit a slightly predator smile. "I don't suppose you came all the way out here to get me out of this cage?"

"Sanzo!" Goku yelled running back the way he had come.

"I'll take that as a no." The peculiar girl said with a reluctant sigh as her legs began to swing back and forth, again.

"**Sanzo!** Sanzo! Sanzo! There's a girl in a birdcage! There's a girl in a bird cage!" Goku was shouting as he burst into camp, grabbed the snarling priest by the wrist, and proceeded to drag him to the scene.

"What the hell was that about?" Gojyo said dropping the firewood he'd been forced to gather in Goku's extended absence.

"It would seem that Goku found a girl in a bird cage." Hakkai answered calmly. There was a pause of about two seconds as the strange information sunk in. "I believe we should follow Goku and see this for ourselves."

"Duh shit," Gojyo said sprinting off after Sanzo and Goku.

"Hakuryu, please stay with the camp." Hakkai said before swiftly walking after the others.

"Kyuu…" the small white dragon said setting his head back down on someone's blanket.

"**Goku,** where the hell are you taking me?" Sanzo grumbled finally getting fed up with being dragged through the forest by the little monkey.

"There's a girl in a bird cage," Goku answered in a huff before tugging Sanzo more persistently. Then they were in the clearing with the girl in a birdcage. Now though she wasn't happy like Goku remembered. She looked very, very annoyed.

"No way in hell. They actually reincarnated your violent droopy eyed ass." The girl said with obvious irritation.

"Who the hell are you?" Sanzo calmly said leveling his gun at her.

"My name's Brii. It's good to know they finally kicked your violent ass out of heaven but in 500 plus years you'd think you would gather enough bad karma to come back as a stink work or a dung beetle or something. I can't believe the monkey managed to attach himself to his glorious sun all over again." The girl ranted in a rage.

"Come on Goku," Sanzo said turning around just as Gojyo and Hakkai entered the clearing. "We're leaving."

"Hey, no, droopy, you can't just leave me in here. I'm sorry about the name calling." The girl whined.

"I've already learned better then to let animals out of their cages." Sanzo said easily moving back into the forest.

"Fucking bastard!" Brii yelled in frustration. Then she noticed the other two. "Hey, you two mind trying to get me out of here?"

"As a reward, how about a night in your pleasant company?" Gojyo asked wiggling his eyebrows as he continued walking towards the cage.

"A kiss, I'll lower myself to a kiss." Brii answered extending her hand.

"What are you implying? I was talking about a couple hands of poker, maybe a game or two of mahjong." Gojyo replied managing to sound defensive as he took her hand and tugged at it.

"No luck," Brii said when the tug failed to produce the desired effect of freedom. "How 'bout you Mr. Smiles?"

"I'm willing to give it a try." Hakkai said taking her offered hand and pulling to no avail. "I apologize but it seem that I can't free you either."

"Goku, you next." Brii said with her hand extended. Goku pulled at her hand and it didn't work. "Hold on real quick, I need to tell you something."

"What?" Goku asked curiously.

"Come closer, I need to tell you something about your past you've probably forgotten." Brii said tugging on his hand to bring him closer.

"Lean in and I'll tell you. You might not want your friends to hear." She whispered grabbing the back of his head with her other hand. "If you remembered your past, you'd remember that I can be quite devious."

And with that she yanked him into the cage with her. Goku's body seemed to pass through the bars and even through Hakkai's grasping hand as he tried to stop it.

"Hey bitch give the monkey back!" Gojyo shouted hitting the bars with his materialized weapon.

"Not till you get Konzen or Sanzo or whatever the fuck his name is right now and you get him to let us out." Brii said letting go of Goku so he could panic around the small interior of the cage.

"I want out!" Goku whined as he tried to go through the bars the way he'd come only to find that they were now very solid.

"And so do I! So you bring Mr. Droopy Eyes back up here and get me out of this!" Brii screeched before she seemed to collapse in on herself and curl up into the fetal position. "Please, just get me out of here."

"I'm sure Sanzo would agree to release you if you were not to take Goku hostage." Hakkai reasoned calmly believing the girl's sanity to be in question. "It's hard to expect someone to be reasonable if you yourself won't be reasonable."

"To bad I'm done with being reasonable. The monkey stays with me until I'm out of this oversized bird cage." Brii answered. Goku was now starring at her in horror and disbelief. "Even if we have to wait for that bastard to be reincarnated and forget about us all over again."

"You little bitch!" Gojyo growled his weapon arcing down gracefully towards the girl between the bars. But it was stopped, not because it couldn't fit between the bars, but because some unseen force had stopped it.

"Brute force can't get you out, it certainly can't get you in." Brii grumbled still in the fetal position her head tucked so close to her chest that they couldn't see her eyes though it sounded like she was crying.

"Gojyo, I think it best if we discuss the situation further with Sanzo." Hakkai said not bothering with his false smile and cheer right now. Hakkai left the clearing as Gojyo continued to glare at her prone form.

"Hurt him and you'll wish you'd stayed in your cage." Gojyo threatened his voice cold and malicious. Then Gojyo also left the clearing.

"No wait! You guys just can't leave me here!" Goku shouted after his departing companions. He turned frantically to his cellmate who was sitting there laughing and not in the insane or desperate sort of way either. It was almost like someone had told a funny joke. "Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry Goku. It's just that I make such a horrible villain. By the way, it is great to see you, even if you're still just as gullible and naive as when we met." Brii said and before he could react she gave him a strong and strangely familiar hug that he couldn't help but return.

"But I don't even know you." Goku whined as she pulled away from him.

"That can't be right. Do you remember anything before your own punishment?" Brii asked puzzled.

"No, all I remember is being in the cave for a really long time and then Sanzo came, like the morning sun." Goku said finishing almost dreamily.

"All right already, I get it. No need to break your brain coming up with all that poetical shit." Brii said in exasperation.

"Brii are you really going to keep me here?" Goku asked pathetically. The girl was treating him nice, like they were old friends, but a friend wouldn't hold him hostage.

"Of course not, I'd go crazy before you would. I'll let you out tomorrow afternoon, maybe late morning if you're really pathetic. And all of this is hinging on the slim possibility your friends don't show up for you first." Brii said tilting her head back randomly to look at the birds flying home for the day.

"Tomorrow afternoon! I'll miss four meals! I'll starve to death!" Goku whined.

"Four meals, last time I checked there were three meals a day." Brii said her expression one of pure disbelief.

"Sure; dinner, midnight snack, breakfast, and brunch." Goku listed. "I'm going to starve to death!"

"Goku look at me. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now do it again. Once more, that very good. Now think, are you hungry right now?" Brii asked very calmly.

"Well of course I'm … (blinkblinkblink) …not hungry." Goku said astonished.

"And if you're appetites changed since heaven, I'll give up gambling. In a cage like this you won't get hungry or thirsty or tired. We only get hot cold and desperately bored and lonely." Brii answered calmly with a hand on either side of his face.

"I remember that. I remember being so lonely for someone to talk to."

"So they did manage to break you two apart." Brii said taking her hands from his face and leaning against the side of the birdcage.

"Who?"

"You're brother. He's going to be really pissed when he finally gets out."

"I have a brother." Goku said amazed.

"I wonder where your Sanzo friend is. He should've had enough time to get back here by now." Brii said awkwardly scanning the tree line.

"**No,"** Sanzo said stubbornly turning the page of his newspaper.

"Sanzo, I find it hard to believe that you are seriously considering leaving Goku in that cage with that creature." Hakkai said sternly.

"I'm not considering anything. I'm not going to let either of them out. " Sanzo puffed irritably at his cigarette.

"Look at us you damn bastard." Gojyo snapped angrily crumpling the paper with one hand. "You just expect us to leave the kid in that cage and go on our marry freaking way as if nothing ever happened?"

"Of course not idiot." Sanzo said grabbing the paper away from Gojyo.

"Both Gojyo and I are quite perplexed by your actions." Hakkai said diplomatically. "Perhaps you would care to explain."

"That cage seemed pretty small to me. How long to you think she can stand with the monkey in there with her." Sanzo answered going back to his paper.

**To Be Continued…**

Authors Note:

For all those wondering this story is set right at the end of the Saiyuki manga and before Saiyuki Reload. All information that I happen to collect outside of these titles may or may not be used because I am the writer and therefore I am the god of this universe.

I intend to post a chapter about every Thursday if you all are wondering. This is my first fan fiction on this site and the first I've posted online for at least four years.

Enjoy, read, review, and flames will be used to roast marshmallows.

Disclaimer:I do not own anything from this series except for the manga sitting on my bookcase at home. Do not touch these. I have covered them in poison in case someone decides they want to run off with them. hehehehe.


	2. Late Night Discussions

The Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 1: Late Night Discussions 

**"I** don't think he's coming." Goku stated after they had watched the tree line for a couple of minutes.

"Maybe he only comes in life or death situations." Brii mussed slouching visibly.

"So while we're in this cage we won't sleep?" Goku asked.

"Nope," Brii told him half heatedly obviously plotting something else at the moment.

"Do you have a deck of cards?" Goku asked hopefully but Brii shook her head distracted. "To bad I can't go down to camp and pick up the deck there."

"You're about as sneaky as a mammoth through the woods. You still seem the same as ever. Promise you'll come right back and I'll let you leave the cage to fetch the cards." Brii said no longer acting miserable.

"I promise," Goku said cheerfully. Brii garbed his hand and pushed him out of the cage.

"Don't take to long!" Brii called cheerfully as Goku ran for camp.

**Back** at camp, Sanzo was reading his paper, Gojyo was smoking out of frustration, and Hakkai was playing a game of solitaire with Hakuryu resting on his shoulder. Enter Goku, running into camp as if he wasn't supposed to be the hostage of Brii. Sanzo didn't even raise an eyebrow. Gojyo's cigarette fell from his lips and Hakkai stopped with a card in his hand ready to be set down. Goku scanned the campsite briefly and found what he was looking for in Hakkai's hands.

"Hey Hakkai, can we borrow the cards tonight?" Goku asked politely.

"Why certainly Goku," Hakkai said to stunned to say much for anything else. He gathered the cards up in one hand and politely hadned them over to Goku.

"Thanks," Goku said taking the cards and running back into the woods.

"That's it. I'm going to see what monkey shit thinks he's doing." Gojyo said reaching for another cigarette before taking off more slowly after Goku.

**"I'm** back." Goku needlessly announced as he came crashing through the under brush and into the clearing.

"Give me your hand," Brii said pulling him back into the cage with her. Goku only now noticed that since the cage was about three feet off the ground that Brii had to be a lot stronger then she looked.

"What'll we play?" Goku asked the thought abandoned with the prospect of entertainment.

"Poker, winner calls the next hand and the stakes are a question, about anything." Brii declared as she expertly shuffled the cards as if she wasn't 500 years out of practice.

"Deal me in," Gojyo announced entering the clearing with a bit more dignity then Goku had.

"Sure, winner gets to ask whoever they want a question. First game, five card stud, threes are wild." Brii said dealing the cards on the floor. Goku sat cross legged next to her and Gojyo was forced to stand.

"Why three's?" Gojyo asked as he picked up his hand.

"You can ask me if you win." Brii replied absently as she considered her own hand. "How many cards ya' want?"

"Four," Goku announced as he discarded the old four into the middle.

"That must be a killer hand," Brii said sarcastically dealing out the requested cards. "What about you? What's your name anyway?"

"You can ask me if you win. I'll take one." Gojyo told her with a smirk, discarding his one card.

"Fuckin' perverted bastard, that's your name." Brii mumbled giving him the card. "Dealer takes two. Goku, show your cards."

"A pair of jacks," Goku announced grinning.

"Very good chibi monkey, we'll make a card shark out of you yet. Just not tonight. Full house, tre nines and a pair of aces." Gojyo announced.

"Bugger," Brii answered not even bothering to reveal her cards.

"Why three's wild?" Gojyo asked looking pointedly at Brii through the bars.

"That's a weak beginning." Brii stated slightly confused.

"I figure we've got all night for the more difficult stuff." Gojyo answered as he began shuffling the cards.

"It was the bottom card when I started shuffling." Brii answered with a shrug of her shoulders, apparently having no concern over the more "difficult stuff" they would be covering later that night.

"Same game, nothing wild." Gojyo announced as he dealt out the cards. By the end of the game, the cards were different, the results the same.

"Are you and Goku the same?" Gojyo asked as the question game moved up a notch.

"Yes and no," Brii answered cheerfully.

"How?"

"Ah, ah, ah, only one question per win." Brii scolded as Gojyo's eyes darkened.

"Same exact game," Gojyo said dangerously. Goku stepped out of the game as the two began dueling on two levels.

Gojyo won.

"How are you and Goku similar?"

"We had mostly the same friends up in heaven. We're also both born of pure elemental energy, though different elements."

Gojyo again.

"Which element were you born from?"

"Wind," Brii whispered mystically as a gust of wind blew through in a spurt to play with each of their hair.

Brii finally wins a hand.

"Okay, red head here's getting to serious on me. Goku, have you kissed Konzen's reincarnation yet?" Brii said with mischief in her eyes.

"What!?! No!" Goku answered startled. "You can't ask me questions. I'm not playing."

"You're still in the circle." Brii pointed out trying to control her fit of giggles.

"Only because you won't let me out." Said an indignant Goku.

"What prompted that?" Gojyo asked laughing as well.

"Okay free story because it's fully humiliating for him now that he's all grown up and shit. Goku was about three at the time. He was walking along, in heaven, when he sees two people kissing. He of course has no idea what that's all about so he goes an' asks one of the few gods friendly to our kind and it just happens to be a complete pervert. Well he tells Goku that kissing is how you show someone you really like them, knowing full well the person Goku really liked at the time and fully expecting to see the fireworks over this little gag. Of course Goku gets side tracked before getting to Konzen's office and sees me. He kisses me full on the lips for a spell and continues on down the hall. I'm thinking what the fuck, then I see what's his face and I get the details from him. This was just to good a gag for me to spoil, so we followed young Goku to Konzen's office where we were just in time to see Goku plant another one of Konzen's petrified face. Then before you could blink he had that paper fan of his out and was beating the shit out of us with it. Because of course we were standing in the doorway like a bunch of laughing idiots. An' the moral of this story is watch from outside a window. You have a better chance of escaping punishment that way." Brii concluded as the boys laughed.

"Alright this time seven card hold, fours wild." Brii announced as she shuffled and dealt.

Gojyo won.

"How many elemental children are there?"

"Tricky, last I knew six but for all I know Goku and I could be the last, or the elements could've felt frisky and there are several hundred of them out there." Brii said still feeling light hearted about her win.

Again Gojyo.

"You really suck at poker, you know that right?" Gojyo said as he gathered up the cards to be dealt again.

"Yes I do, but I still am in love with that fickle creature known as lady luck." Brii declared dramatically.

"All right, which elements are represented by the elemental children that you know of?" Gojyo asked.

"Won't answer, you already asked a question." Brii answered merrily.

"When?" Gojyo asked outraged.

"'You really suck at poker, you know that right?'" Came Gojyo's voice perfectly imitated from Brii's mouth.

"Smart ass."

Another hand, another win for Gojyo.

"Which elements are represented by the elemental children that you know of?"

"Ether, wind, fire, water and earth."

Gojyo again.

"What's ether?"

"Ether, you know, life, chi, spirit, magic, that's all ether. I don't really understand it all either, after all it's not my element."

Brii…finally.

"Goku, are you happy with these people?" Brii asked seriously looking at Goku's amber eyes as if searching his soul.

"Yeah, I am." Goku answered just as seriously his gaze not wavering. Then Goku, never being one to stay serious, returned to his carefree way. "Deal me in. If you're going to keep asking me questions I might as well get a shot to ask some questions myself."

"Yeah right," Gojyo said to himself.

"All right, let's get silly. Blind man's bluff, the big looser has to … suck on a rock for the rest of the game." Brii answered.

"Raising the stakes?" Gojyo questioned half expecting her to make him win before she'd answer.

"This game's taking to long." Brii replied sticking the final card to her forehead.

The game lasted five more rounds in which Brii won all and created a new and zanier penalty for the looser until finally Gojyo claimed exhaustion and walked back to camp. This left Brii, Goku, a deck of cards, and the frog Goku had to kiss in the second round.

"Now that he's gone we can talk." Brii said her very body language shifting as she set the deck of cards aside and looked at Goku. "I want you to ask me anything about your past and I'll answer as best as I can. It's not right not to know who you are, where you came from."

"Why now? Why not when Gojyo was here?" Goku asked not even realizing that he had finally given away his friend's name. Brii didn't seem to care either because she didn't move.

"Because I don't know Gojyo. I don't know how much you'd want me to say in front of him. A favorite saying of mine is 'you need not unsay what wasn't said.'"

"Then why can't I remember you or anything before the cage?" Goku asked suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about being in this cage even if it was with someone who claimed to know him.

"That's a very good question. Since I'm not the gods I can only speculate it was part of the punishment for what we did while in heaven."

"What did I do to deserve that, all of that?" Goku asked pathetically.

"We, Goku, it was something we did. But before that I should probably explain who we are…" Brii said a strong breeze beginning to build around the cage. Colors seemed to dance and merge within the breeze creating a moving picture.

**End of Chapter 2**

Author's Note: Some of you may be asking why it's been so long since my last post, that is if any of those who did read the first chapter when I first posted it are still there… One phrase, surge protector. So now I've got a new computer and while I do need to re-download all my old games buy some more ram so that it can support my old games and wonder how I did what I did in the old games, it's all okay. I've got a good bunch of chapters written down already so I'm adding this one early and I should be able to get one down on Thursday as well.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Brii and possibly the situation, and a new computer.


	3. Elemental Myths

Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 3: Elemental Myths

**The **first came of ether. The element of life and death became aware of itself on the site of a battlefield, a battle more like to a slaughter of two armies. Ether knew it would lose itself as the spirit of the battle faded. So it created a child, a son alter named Poe, who would be an embodiment of it self.

The wind which fills all the sky saw the birth of this elemental child. The wind told the other elements as it wove its wind together to create a daughter later named Brii.

The water had the third child for it knew the feeling of giving life for it had many millions of years ago. The water had a son later named Kale.

The fire, which could be quick or slow, chose to be slow and strong so as to pass its strength to its child, a son later name Vic.

Finally came the earth, the youngest of the elements and the last to act. It chose instead to bear two children, splitting the power behind its element into two vessels, for although the youngest of the elements, the earth was the strongest. The children of earth were twin boys later named Son Goku and Seiten Taisei.

**As** soon as we were all born, we started having problems, and causing them. It wasn't like we had parents to keep us out of mischief. We each had one parent and it wasn't exactly aware of what mortal creatures needed, except of course earth who had experience taking care of children.

Poe's element lost its awareness about two days after his brith but that was okay since he'd already been adopted by the general of the "winning" side. At about five the general discovered his son's control over life and death and decided to betray his nation and become a warlord. Poe wasn't to interested in using his abilities to further his father's cause but his father had developed methods to ensure his sons good behavior.

At about this time I was two and did whatever I wanted to. My element knew how to take care of me. It simply pushed me twoards the people who could take care of me. But me, like the wind, could never stay in one place for to long. I went through hundreds of families. Sometimes the same family five or six times. It all depended on how the winds were blowing. The families all knew that I was special. On top of the fact that infants and toddlers didn't normally have silver hair, kids that young don't have such an outstanding vocabulary and can't slip through walls when their foster parents try and punish them. By the time I was six it was harder to find families to take me in but I had already learned the concept of stealing by then.

And while I was six, Kale was five. He spent his whole life up to that point in the place called the Sea of Lights. His element managed to raise him on its own. I visited a village there once, it was beautiful. It's always warm there and at night the surface of the water rivals the light of the moon. Needless to say, living in an ocean for the first part of his life, he wasn't entirely prepared for social interactions. So when someone saw him floating in the water and tried to pull him out he sort of over reacted, big time, and swamped the boat. Well every time that someone spotted him after that he would sink their boat or ship. I'm not sure why and we never did get him to tell us. But it did start an interesting mythos in the village.

Anyway, Vic had no problems with his life what so ever. In fact he was sort of worshipped as a god. The thing was that he manifested on a volcanic island. The tribe there pretty much lived on the whims of the almost constant magma flows so they made sacrifices to the fire as if it were a god. The element of fire figured this was the perfect place to dump it's kid. So when the humans were making their yearly sacrifice, who should crawl out of the magma flow but baby Vic. After that he pretty much took over the place. Hell, once he hit puberty he was offered every virginal maiden on the island. Thankfully Vic was the slow sort of fire and not the quick or the island wouldn't be able to hold all the people. He didn't choose any of them though he did start thinking about taking a permanent mate, just not one that thought he was god.

Finally you and your brother were born, twelve years after Vic and eighteen years after Poe. You two kinda were the reason we all got sent to heaven. You both were found by a woodcutter, a youkai woodcutter. Naturally he brought you home to his barren wife to raise. That lasted about a year. See while you and your brother are both playful, Seiten's a bit rough. Youkai wood cutters couldn't handle you both. And trying to separate you two was messy, very messy. Eventually you both were living in the mountains together. Then at age two some villagers found you both and blamed you guys for slaughtering a bunch of their sheep. You got injured. Seiten got pissed. Village got dead. This situation led to the gods picking us all up. We were really messing with _their_ natural order.

I think they were mostly pissed about Vic getting worshipped the Seiten going berserk on an entire village. Y'all of course didn't remember this up in heaven because you were toddlers. As far as you were concerned heaven was it and always had been.

**"Before** I go on, Konzen's incarnation." Brii paused as she searched for his name.

"Sanzo?" Goku supplied.

"Yeah, Sanzo, what's he like?"

"He's grumpy sometimes, most of the time. And he gest irritated sometimes when I talk or more like any time I talk actually. And he hits me with a paper fan a lot. And he's _really_ moody when it rains." Goku rambled.

"Well except for the rain thing, Sanzo sounds like a Konzen with long hair."

"So Konzen didn't get all moody when it rained?"

"No, I mean there was no rain. Hell, there wasn't any weather at all. This is one of the few things me and Konzen agreed on. Heaven was fucking boring. That's not to say we didn't find some way to entertain ourselves…"

**"What's** wrong Goku?" Asked a fifteen year old Brii to a four year old Goku.

"Nothing," Goku pouted in a way that said something was obviously wrong.

"You're not fooling us kid. Why don't you just spill it?" Vic said reaching down and picking Goku up like he was a doll. Vic was just short of eight feet and muscle bound to boot. His hair was red like paint, his eyes a dark blue, and his skil a natural dark tan.

"Konzen's in a meeting all day and I can't talk with Seiten cause he's mad at Konzen." Goku pouted crossing his arms, as Vic kept him level with the rest of the group.

"There's no way around it then, we'll just have to raid the kitchen." Poe said dramatically. Poe was fully grown at 5'6", skinny as a beanpole, pale as a ghost, with hair and yes the color of boiling tar. The nails on his left hand were naturally black though the ones on his right were a more natural white.

"Really?" Goku asked excitedly.

"Of course, Kale mentioned he was hungry earlier. I know both you and Vic could never actually be full. I know I'm a bit bored and could do with some amusement. Brii, would you care to join us?" Poe asked in a courtly manner.

Kale in the background smirked. His hair was a deep green like seaweed. His eyes an aqua blue. He didn't have skin. He had pale gray scales, no nose or ears, webbed bands and feet, and had gills along his back, not his neck. Kale was smirking because as everyone knew Kale could only speak under water. And they hadn't been to the swimming pool that day.

"But of course Poe. I'm always delighted to stir some excitement up in this place." Brii answered in her mocking court voice making a curtsy to the group.

**"Of** course, most of the gods didn't appreciate us making excitement in their perfect little heaven. Wasn't it bad enough we'd been born." Modern Brii said mockingly with a touch of bitter hatred.

"They hated us?" Goku asked.

"Hate? No, they didn't hate us. They wanted us dead. You don't have to hate someone to want them dead. Some were even willing to dirty their hands and do it themselves. It was only natural for us to fight back when someone tries to skewer you on a pike. They had a fucking gang and a plan. They struck us at the same time while we were separated. I don't know about the others but I mostly ran or flew. Shoved everyone out of the way and tried to get the hell out of there. The Bodhisattvas intervened eventually. Gathered up every one of us and those who hated us all in one room. The gods who supported us or at least didn't think we were a problem weren't allowed in the room. Apparently some of the gods got killed in the commotion and it was of course all our fault. Sentencing however was individualized and they let you beg and all that crap. During my escapade I'd been struck by lightning so I pretty much starred at them the whole time. I figure we all got a cage at least close to our element and maybe something more if they were feeling spiteful." Brii finished bitterly watching the horizon lighten.

"We killed a god?" Goku asked in wonder.

"Not a god, nine were dead at the final count. We'd killed eight." Brii answered with a hollow voice. "We were more then equal to any god up there."

"Brii?" Goku asked worried.

"Go away now Goku," Brii commanded lightly pushing him out of the cage with one hand. Goku could smell the tears though he couldn't see her up turned face from beneath her. "Sanzo's not coming. Right now I want to be alone."

Goku backed up to the edge of the clearing watching her. She lay back looking with obvious longing at the endless blue sky. He turned around and ran back to camp missing as Brii smiled to herself.

**Goku** walked into camp with uncharacteristic purpose. It was that seriousness coming from Goku that caught the others attention immediately. Gojyo was the one who decided to break the silence first.

"Hey monkey brains, fetching breakfast for her most sarcastic or she actually let you go this time?" Gojyo asked with forced cheer.

"She let me go." Goku answered seriously. He even let the monkey brains comment go. He walked with all-purpose up to Sanzo who was doing all he could to ignore Goku till the monkey yanked the newspaper out of his hands.

"Wanna die?" Sanzo asked scowling at Goku.

"Let her go," Goku said looking at Sanzo till the monk was forced to look away.

"No," he answered taking a cigarette out and lighting it. Goku still stood in front of him. Sanzo blew smoke in Goku's face but Goku didn't blink. The problem for Sanzo was that he had met eye-to-eye with Goku and he could feel his resolve crumbling.

"Sanzo…"

**Brii** lay peacefully in her birdcage, singing a song that was more random syllables in a random tune. Then she felt the slight shifting of the wind. Someone was coming. Brii sat up her eyes trying to see past the trees. Then she saw him, like the morning sun, like the hope of freedom. Stupid Goku putting similes in her head.

Sanzo stopped directly before her cage and starred at her with those droopy eyes of his. Brii reached out to him not touching him, which might piss him off. She leaned against the bars preparing for freedom.

"Stupid," Sanzo muttered giving no clarification. He reached up, past her hand.

"Ah, shit, stupid fucking droopy eyes!" Brii cursed as Sanzo pulled her out by the ear.

Next Chapter: Better The Devil You Know

A/N: I'll give you this one early since I did sort of flake on you for however long and this is a really short chapter. I should post the next chapter Thursday night. I have work that means most of my posts will be at night. Oh, and I have no regret for flaking on you guys now. That means that begging for another chapter right away won't work. You'll get one on Thursday and then next Thursday. I don't want to lose all the extra chapters I've stored up already.


	4. The Devil You Know

Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 4: The Devil You Know

"**You** could've been nicer Sanzo." Goku scolded helping Brii to her feet.

"Why? It'll just encourage her to follow us. Another mangy animal," Sanzo said turning away.

"Like I'd want to hang out with a droopy eyed baldy with a stick up his ass." Brii shot back. Sanzo's fan came out, and Brii dodged.

"So you won't be joining us on our journey?" Hakkai asked politely.

"Nah, after all that time cooped up I need to stretch my legs a bit, heck stretch my wings. The world and me have a lot of catching up to do. Maybe I'll see you around." Brii said gliding over to Goku her feet never touching the ground. She gave Goku a brief kiss on the cheek. "Bye Goku."

And with that a strong breeze entered the clearing and picked Brii up like she was a feather. Goku watched her disappear in the distance as the others began to trek back to the camp and begin another day of travel.

"I'm glad that girl ain't traveling with us. She was a total nut case." Gojyo commented as the group walked back down for the last time.

"It would've been rather inconvenient driving with a fifth person as well. Still," Hakkai drawled off.

"What's up?" Gojyo asked always feeling off balance when Hakkai broke off mid-sentence.

"I wonder if we should have warned her about the current situation with the youkai before she left." Hakkai commented causing Gojyo to stop walking.

"Shit," Gojyo commented before continuing. "She'll figure it out soon enough."

**Brii** was about to figure the situation out.

Since it was morning. Brii had decided to race the sun. The objective of the race was to make it back to her cage before morning the next day. It was a good exercise and gave her new landmarks for this new world. She didn't get as far as she thought she would before she was distracted by something.

A column of thick black smoke was beginning to rise in the southwest. The lack of thick clouds meant it wasn't thunderstruck. A village was always a good landmark, even a burned out one. As she flew over it she spotted more then just a burning village. It was a battle. No, it was a slaughter.

The villagers were too busy fending off a band of attackers to do anything about their houses burning. The problem as Brii saw it was that the defenders were being pushed toward the burning buildings by the attackers and the attackers seemed to be trying to eat them.

Normally, she wouldn't have stopped to do anything. She wasn't a fighter. She was good at running away and getting in and out of places. None of those things would be of use to the villagers. But the last time she had roamed the world when bandits attacked they'd take what they want, maybe set fire to the houses to make it easier to get away and rarely killed more then five villagers if any at all.

Usually though you didn't see the bandits considering the people of the village as the valuable items or edible items. So the first thing Brii decided she needed to do was to keep the two groups away from each other.

Working with wind was a lot more difficult then working with the other elements. Despite the long-standing belief that wind was the element of freedom, wind wasn't like that. There were several laws that wind observed. Wind must always move. If wind went still it was no longer wind, it was air and air had no magic for Brii. Air fell under the category of ether because air was required to breathe and breath was required for life and life was ether. Second law of wind was wind could not pass through solid objects. Thankfully Brii had never found a building that was airtight. Finally, wind moved from high to low pressure.

Theoretically Brii could impose her will on all of these laws. In reality she generally worked with the third, as it was the easiest to work with. Poe was the only reason she had attempted the second law and though she managed to she was left with a head splitting headache. She wouldn't even bother with the first law because so long as there was the slightest movement of air there was wind. Blinking an eye, she could create a tornado. If she was ever in the situation without wind then she was either, dead, buried alive, or under water. Any case, she was screwed.

Brii grabbed a roving band of wind and encircled it around the defenders as best she could. After all, if two groups are fighting a bloody battle it was rather difficult to draw a definite line between the two. The attackers made this easier though, they seemed to be all youkai and so they naturally felt when the winds changed against them.

The villagers were amazed at this new development but not so much as when Brii set the second and third band, the second going in the opposite direction as the other two. This created a very powerful self-perpetuating tornado. If left at that, the attackers would go hungry but the defenders would suffocate. Brii began to expand the center of the tornado. When the edge of the tornado reached the burning buildings it put out the fires but ended up collapsing most of them. When the edge of the tornado reached the attackers, it picked them up and tossed them a mile and a half away. The remaining youkai decided it was prudent to leave well enough alone and disappeared into the surrounding forests.

Brii set her bands of wind free when she was convinced that the attackers wouldn't be back any time soon. The villagers had finally figured out that their savior came from above and were calling for her to come down. With thoughts of shiny rewards, Brii let herself be lured down to the decimated village.

"Y'all all right?" She asked, as the remaining villagers surrounded her.

"Thank you child," one woman repeated taking Brii's hand and kissing it.

"And as a reward," a man behind her said and Brii felt the stab of a blade in her back. Instinct had Brii weaving through the crowd and into the forest.

Her breeze left her in a clearing an easy mile from the village where her back burned indicating a shallow, but still painful, cut. She hissed to herself as she tried to turn around and see it. A twig breaking in the forest caused her to drop the painful task of looking at her wound and looking at the forest around her.

She was surrounded. Three of the bandits from before were now entering the clearing looking straight at her.

"What's the matter with you?" One of the youkai said clearly addressing Brii. "Haven't you awoken yet?"

"Huh?" Brii asked obviously confused.

"Guess she's still a kid." The second one said.

"I know. Why don't we make her a woman the old fashioned way?" The final one said with a perverted laugh.

Brii didn't wait around. She shot straight in the air and headed full speed towards where she had left Goku. She'd lost interest in learning about this new world.

**The** Sanzo party was traveling in their usual manner riding in jeep their usual mode of transportation. Hakkai drove with his pleasant smile plastered on his face. Sanzo read his paper ignoring the two in the back who had been arguing but where now just name calling.

So naturally it was Hakkai who first looked in the rear view mirror and noticed Brii perched quizzically on the spare tire watching Goku and Gojyo. Although Hakkai was curious which of his companions would notice the girl first, he was also worried how much paler she looked then this morning.

"Well Brii," he began pleasantly causing Goku and Gojyo to stop mid fight and look at her. "To what do we owe your sudden appearance?"

"Physical harm to my person has been attempted twice today and it's not even lunch yet. I figured it better to stick with the devil you know instead of trying for my third strike." Brii answered matter-of-factly.

"Brii," Goku asked looking at her. "You're bleeding."

"All right then, one of them managed to succeed." Brii answered less matter-of-factly.

Hakkai sighed and pulled jeep over to the side of the road.

**TBC**

Disclaimer: Do not own Saiyuki.

A/N: I have no excuse for my laziness. Forget the Thursday update. I'll just update when I feel

like it though I'll still try to update at least once a week but I'll never update on Sunday

because we're not allowed to use such things as computers and game systems on Sunday.


	5. On the Road Again

A/N: Wow, people are still reading this. I mean they're still reading it as in new people continue to look at it despite the fact that I haven't updated in several months. Dang. Oh well, since someone gave me the puppy dog eyes and everything I guess I have to continue.

Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 5: On the Road Again 

"**You're** cheating." Goyjo accused as Brii avoided taking the old maid for the fifth round.

"Am not." Brii said looking at her own cards intently and discarding a pair.

"Well I think you're both cheating." Goku said grumpily having lost the past ten rounds. Brii and Goyjo had some how managed to keep the score tied and neither of them were willing to leave it at that. Hakkai was driving and Sanzo was looking vacantly at the scenery thankful that the addition of Brii had actually made things quieter instead of louder. Brii herself instead of sitting in the crowded back seat had tied a cord around her waist and was floating behind Jeep.

"Ah, is the little baby monkey sad 'cause he can't win. Maybe we should let the baby win a game, eh Brii?" Goyjo said in a baby voice deciding that he'd had enough of old maid, go fish, and the other numerous card games. Better to quite while they were tied instead of trying to quite while he was ahead which would only cause an unwanted argument. Or worse yet when she was winning.

"I think with that voice you're the one acting like a baby around here," Brii snickered as she gathered all the cards together neatly with her winds.

"Oh my," Hakkai said before he slammed on the brakes. Everyone in the car slammed forward with no real injuries. Brii however was not in the car. Even though the car stopped, Brii still had momentum. The tether snapped as Brii continued moving at the previous sixty miles per hour.

"Shizzit," she cursed as the windshield sped towards her. With one hand she grasped the top of the windshield and pushed herself over the top. Her motion wasn't complete though. She continued moving forward with her hand still attached to the windshield and she did a clumsy roll before ending up on her but in front of the car.

"Brii," Goku exclaimed standing up in his seat so he could see her.

"What the hell was that about Hakkai?" Goyjo cursed rubbing the imaginary bump on his head where it had met with the back of Sanzo's seat.

"It seems we have some guests." Hakkai said motioning to the small army of faceless youkai stooges that always seemed to appear.

"Is it me or do these idiots look like the same jackasses that attacked us yesterday?" Goyjo said his weapon appearing in his hands.

"It's you," Sanzo said taking out his gun and checking the ammunition. 

"Sanzo party, surrender…" The head youkai said before being interrupted.

"Shut up." Sanzo said putting a bullet through his head. There was a bit of a pause as the youkai population realized what had happened. Then the usual melee began.

Gojyo went about with his usual hack and slash. Goku did relatively the same thing only with his nii-bo. Sanzo didn't leave his seat as he fired. Hakkai seemed to be the only one mixing it up.

And Brii…

Brii was fifteen feet straight up. Like she'd said before she didn't fight, she ran. Since it didn't seem as if any of the youkai were smart enough to realize that the girl who had been in front of the jeep had actually flown above them she figured she was safe enough. Besides the view was excellent.

She watched as Goku knocked aside youkai after youkai with each powerful swing. One came up from behind him but he seemed to sense it and brought his bo up between his opponents legs. So he was still a bit crude, she thought to herself remembering how he fought when he was a small child. Biting and scratching was his main attack and defense. Now he beat things with a stick, the monkey, it seemed, had learned about tools.

Brii snickered to herself.

"Something amusing?" Someone asked from directly behind her. Brii squeaked like a startled bird as she turned and back peddled in mid-air. "You should be down there fighting with the rest! The Lady put your lives in my hands and I am ordering you to attack the Sanzo group!" He said in an angry voice.

He was tall, obviously youkai, with a birthmark that looked like an eye on his forehead. His skin was a pale green, his hair a vibrant green and reaching half down his back, his eyes were yellow with a slit pupils. He wore a black robe with gold trim. And he obviously seemed to have mistaken Brii for one of the lackeys.

"Uh, you're confused. I don't belong to anyone." Brii said gathering winds around her in a speedy defense she knew she'd probably need.

She was right. A bolt of green energy shot from his hand and collided with the ball of wind. The bolt ran along the currents of powerful energy before it collected enough speed to escape. It crashed to the earth making a mid-sized crater catching the attention of the Sanzo party that had finished the slaughter of the small youkai army.

"Hey leave Brii alone chia head!" Goku ordered squaring off below the man.

"Chia head? Come on Goku, he's obviously the Jolly Green Giant." Gojyo pointed out.

"Oh but he's neither jolly nor a giant. He's probably the cousin or such." Hakkai said continuing the taunt of the latest wannabe villain.

"I was planning on letting you pathetic creatures another day of life but if you insist on your own deaths then I feel I must oblige." The man said his teeth clenched as he looked down at the Sanzo party apparently ignoring Brii who didn't actually know how to fight in the first place.

He charged towards the middle of the group on the ground with both hands glowing with green energy his eyes glowing in rage. The party dispersed and the man went after Goyjo. Goyjo turned and brought his weapon to block the glowing green hands reaching him.

"What? No introductions," Goyjo said knocking the hands aside to try and get a shot in. The man was faster than that and was already hovering in the air.

"I am Gax!" The man announced in triumph and anger as he brought both glowing hands togther.

"Enough talk," Sanzo said shooting the man in the gut, or at least trying to. The bullet hit a shield of, cliché enough, green energy.

"I'll destroy you another time." Gax said obviously not interested in fighting two of them at a time let alone all four of them. Gax took off flying in the direction they had just left.

"Well that was anti-climatic. What was he late for a pruning or something?" Goyjo asked to no one in particular.

"Drive," Sanzo said sitting back down. Hakkai followed suit with one of his sort of creepy smiles and began driving off, slowly, until Goku and Goyjo had jumped into the back.

"Wait for me!" Brii yipped flying after the car and grabbing onto the back end and squeezing in between Goku and Goyjo.

"**Two **rooms," Sanzo ordered taking out the credit card.

"Um Sanzo, don't you think that with the new addition we should opt for an additional room?" Hanzo politely suggested.

"Actually sirs, we only have two rooms available at the moment." The innkeeper said from behind the counter.

"Eh," Sanzo said looking back to where Goku and Brii were bickering over something probably food related as they were looking at the inn's menu. "They can share a room."

"Sanzo, are you saying that you're planning on putting two teenagers of opposite sex, in the same room, for the night, without a chaperone?" Hakkai asked carefully. For some reason it had been placed on him to be the responsible adult.

"Yeah," Sanzo answered paying for the rooms.

"We'll take your things up to your rooms now sir and have everything prepared shortly. Please, make your self comfortable in the dinning area in the mean time." The host said as a bellhop picked up their few bags and took them to the rooms.

"Have you ever had _the talk_ with Goku?" Gojyo asked suddenly.

"No," Sanzo answered with out pause as he walked to join Goku and Brii in the dinning area.

"Perhaps one of us should chaperone them after all." Hakkai said giving a pointed look at Gojyo.

"Hey, as long as I don't have to give him the talk sure." Gojyo replied as they both joined the others at the table.

"Sanzo, Brii doesn't want to eat anything." Goku whined when they were in hearing distance.

"A plate of bean sprouts is not nothing." Brii answered sticking her nose in the air, insulted.

"But you don't even want them cooked." Goku pointed out turning back to the argument he had been having with Brii over the menu.

"But I love uncooked bean sprouts and you said I could have anything I wanted." Brii argued back.

"What about some sweet and sour pork?" Goku offered pointing to it on the menu.

"Nope."

"Dumplings?"

"Nah ah."

"Fried rice?"

"Yuck."

"Motsuyaku?"

"What?"

"Chicken, pork, and beef giblets cooked on a skewer."

"Uncooked then sure." Brii answered. Everyone at the table looked at her as if she was insane. "What? I don't like cooked foods that includes meats."

"And you say yuck to fried rice." Goku said turning back to the menu to see if there was anything tasty that was uncooked determined that his new/old friend would eat something more then bean sprouts.

"I figure bean sprouts won't get me as many stares." Brii said taking a sip of the water a waitress had placed at her spot.

"Speaking of stares, perhaps we should purchase Brii some new clothes while we're in town." Hakkai suggested taking a look at the menu himself.

"What's the matter with my clothes?" Brii asked taking a look at her white shorts and tank top now a bit dingy from the drive.

"And also some hair dye." Hakkai continued.

"What's the matter with my hair?" Brii asked nervously taking a handful of her long beautiful silver hair and stroking it.

"Not a bad idea, but we should probably leave her inside while we're at it." Gojyo said having only now noticed the looks of hatred that Brii was getting from other patrons. No one was likely to try anything with a sanzo in control of the youkai child but Sanzo wasn't likely to be with the girl every minute of the day.

"Have you decided what you want to order?" A waitress said coming up to their table.

"Bean sprouts, not cooked and more water." Brii answered immediately and the waitress seemed to be all to happy to write down the order. No matter how peculiar it was there wasn't any meat in it.

"I want…" Goku began listing nearly everything on the menu. The waitress sweat dropped as she rushed to write down everything he asked for without making a mistake. The other orders seemed normal and the waitress left hoping the large group at least tipped well.

As soon as the food was delievered, the meal dissolved into it's usual disorder. Brii ate the bean sprouts delicately one sprout at a time, sipping at her water. Goku and Gojyo competed over whose food was whose. Sanzo read his newspaper and ate sedately only bothering to look anywhere else when someone's hand came to near to his own plate. Hakkai mostly sipped at his tea as he watched the steady flow of people enter the dinning area most watching Brii with unveiled suspicion and anger.

"Perhaps we should have lent Brii a cloak before entering town." Hakkai said putting his cup down as the room became more and more crowded.

"Hindsight's a bitch ain't it." Gojyo answered ignoring what remained of the food and tensing ever so slightly.

"What's going on?" Goku asked noticing that he wasn't in competition for the food anymore.

"It seems I'm not very liked." Brii answered still eating her bean sprouts though she was monitoring the room with all her ability. Each tiny movement caused a movement of the air and for each movement of the air Brii registered every move.

"Goku, would you please escort Brii up to our rooms." Hakkai ordered his eyes taking on a dangerous glint as he looked over the room of humans.

"Yeah sure," Goku said still confused. Brii stood up without saying anything with the plate of bean sprouts and moved towards the stairs in the least intimidating yet casual way that she could.

"So what's the problem?" Sanzo asked folding his newspaper up and sliding it into his robes.

"You brought some youkai into our town." One of the men answered as everyone but Sanzo got out of their chairs.

"And your point?" Sanzo said somehow managing to stare the man down even though he was the one sitting.

END CHAPTER 5 

A/N: Hello everybody, long time no write. I'll be honest, I lost interest and ignored my fanfiction. But now I have seen the error of my ways and will continue with all due haste to post frequently and finish that which I have begun.

Most sincerely apologetic,

Dawnn's Grace


	6. The Talk and other Complications

The Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 6: The Talk and Other Complications

"**And** your point?" Sanzo said somehow managing to stare the man down even though he was the one sitting.

"Brii is no harm to anyone, honest." Hakkai stepped in hoping to avoid a confrontation and starting a fight and probably loosing their rooms for the night. Camping out was necessary most of the time but that didn't mean they should voluntarily lose what time they did have in a real bed.

"And how can you be sure? How can we be sure that she won't decide to devour us while we sleep?" An older woman nearly shreaked, very annoying voice.

"She's a vegetarian." Sanzo lied smoothly. There was no need to inform the public that Brii liked her meat raw. This statement seemed to take the wind out of the sails of most of the crowd because they started to mill aimlessly. But several patrons wouldn't be disuaded.

"And what if she goes berserk?" Some one near the middle asked.

"She's to old for that. If she was going to go berserk she would've done so by now." Someone from within the crowd actually answered.

People near the edge began to filter back out of the establishment but a few hard core haters stayed at their tables looking threatening.

"This going to become a problem?" Gojyo asked no one in particullar as they sat back down to finish their meal with one eye on the crowd.

"With our luck most certainly," Hakkai said smiling.

"That's nothing to smile about." Gojyo commented.

"After dinner I'll pick up our supplies. It would be a good idea if we all stayed near our rooms tonight, just in case we have to leave in a hurry." Hakkai continued gathering Sanzo's credit card and leaving the establishment.

"**What** was that all about?" Goku asked peeking out of the room to see if anyone had followed them up.

"They're afraid of me." Brii said quietly.

"Why?" Goku asked taking another look at her. She certainly didn't look like anything to be afraid of but there were those crazy moments like when she first dragged him into the cage with her. Goku shuddered at the thought.

"I don't know, maybe cause I'm youkai. I'm certain that's what Hakkai was hinting at and I certainly didn't see any other youkai in the mob." Brii speculated.

"Oh yeah, the whole minus wave problem." Goku said finally piecing it togther.

"What minus wave problem?" Brii asked, since no one had bothered to explain it to her yet.

"That's right, you were locked in that bird cage the whole time so you don't know."

"Don't know _what_?" Brii asked again.

"Well there are these bad people in India who are trying to resurrect this Ox guy and…" So went Goku's explanation of events so far. Brii decided as Goku was talking to get the story from one of the others once they decided to visit the teenagers.

"So how long do we have to wait up here anyway? I'm hungry." Goku asked as he looked out the door again hoping to see one of their companions coming and telling them that it was okay to finish dinner.

"Who knows? They're probably just going to leave us in the room all night, or at least leave me here all night. It's probably okay if you go down." Brii answered finally finishing off her bean sprouts and setting the plate aside for someone else to clean up.

"But what about you?" A sudden pang of guilt hitting him.

"What about me? I can get out of any mess some humans can try to catch me in. I can basically walk through walls." Brii answered.

"But you don't really know how to fight do you?" Goku asked sitting down on one of the beds and thinking really hard. He could go down and finish dinner and Brii would probably be all right but Brii didn't know how to fight and Goku had sensed a fight coming from all of those angry humans down stairs. Just because he hadn't heard Sanzo's gun going off didn't mean that there wouldn't be a fight eventually. And why would they fight when they could just sneak around them and grab Brii while the Sanzo party was unaware.

"I don't need to fight. I'm very good at running away." Brii answered for him smiling at how sweet Goku was with his internal problem.

"I'll stay just in case. Besides this place has to have room service right. We can have dessert." Goku replied happily as he grabbed the room service menu in front of the phone. Sanzo probably wouldn't be happy about it but it was his own fault for leaving Goku without any dinner in a hotel with room service. "Do you like ice cream?"

"To cold," Brii said going to sit by Goku and look over the dessert menu with him.

"What about fudge?"

"To gooey." Brii answered and another argument began just like what had happened over dinner over what were appropriate dishes for dessert.

"Why don't we just get one of everything that way you can try it so that we can be sure that you don't like it." Goku suggested with a clever look in his eyes.

"Sanzo pays for everything right?"

"It all goes on his card."

"It doesn't hurt to be sure. And after all it was you who suggested it." Brii answered throwing up her hands in surrender. It wasn't her idea after all but it was the little acts against droopy eyes that were oh so satisfying.

"What is up with you and Sanzo anyway?" Goku asked after putting in the order.

"What'd'ya mean?" Brii asked as she began mussing up the blankets on her bed and creating a little niche next to the wall.

"I mean you don't seem to like him very much." Goku replied watching her curiously as she continued arranging her blankets. There were just to many strange things about her to puzzle out right now.

"It's not that I don't like him, it's just that…all right, I really don't like him. And it's not just his charming personality either. I guess it's mostly because you would always hang out with him in heaven even though all he would really do is yell and hit you with that crappy fan of his. Poe said it was important for us to make some connections to people other then the cook in case something happened like it did but that didn't mean I had to like it. Not to mention the man didn't get excited about nothing." Brii answered finally finished with her nest.

"How long do you think it'll take for them to deliver dessert?" Goku asked deciding to let the subject drop.

"Don't know, it probably depends on whether they'll wait until everything's ready or send it up as they finish it."

"What's the difference?"

"About twenty minutes."

"**It** looks like Goku found room service." Gojyo chuckled as he watched the steady stream of waiters left the kitchen with platters of desserts.

"He better not make a mess of his room." Sanzo said half his attention on the paper and the other half on the stair case to make sure that no one was trying to sneak past him and up to the room. "That girls already causing to much trouble."

"Chill Sanzo, it's not like we're angels anyway. Once Hakkai gets her hair dyed and new threds there won't be a problem." Gojyo commented taking out a cigarette.

"You've made more then your share as well." Sanzo said forcing his eyes to stay on the paper.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The time you decided to take off on your own and fight that Kami creep." Sanzo answered.

"Well excuse me for giving a crap. You guys didn't have to come back for me." Sanzo didn't say anything and it seemed that Gojyo would have to deal with the silence yet again. "What color do you think Hakkai's going to get for her hair?"

"Don't care." Sanzo said quickly.

"**Goku**, I'm bored." Brii complained as Goku continued going through the desserts.

"Order more cookies." Was Goku's answer between bites. Cookies, the one dessert on the menu that Brii liked.

"Eating is not an activity," Brii said looking at Goku upside down from the bed. She looked at Goku with a puzzled look before she got a wicked little smile on her face.

"What?" Goku asked cautiously putting down his spoon. He didn't remember Brii but that look couldn't be anything good.

"I'm going to brush your hair." Brii answered the smile getting bigger.

"Brush my hair?" Goku asked completely confused. Somehow brushing his hair didn't match with the evil smile.

"Sure, where's your brush?" Brii asked getting up and going towards the bag that she figured was Goku's.

"I don't have a brush."

"Comb?"

"I don't have a comb either." Goku answered.

"When was the last time you brushed your hair?" Brii asked looking at Goku now with a cringe, her plan was not going to go well if Goku's hair wasn't familiar with a brush.

"I don't know." Brii flinched at the answer and began rearranging her plan.

"Alright," Brii answered finally going to the window and opening it wide. Goku watched as her eyes went blank and a soft breeze encircled her. She stayed motionless for several minutes. Goku took small bites of the remaining dessert as he watched her wondering what she was doing.

"Finally," Brii smiled her eyes still blank. Her hand snapped up and a blue comb was thrown into her hand.

"What're ya going to do with that?" Goku asked.

"Like I said, I'm going to brush your hair." Brii answered sitting cross legged on the bed. "Come, sit."

"Okay," Goku said still uncertain. The evil little smile was back. He sat on the floor in front of her.

"No not there, up here in front of me." Brii said patting the space on the bed in front of her, trying now a deceptively pleasant smile.

Goku got up and moved his moves hesitant sensing that there was something more to Brii's actions then simple vanity. As soon as Goku got comfortable his legs hanging off the side of the bed, Brii moved her legs, wrapping them around his waist. Goku blushed when his hand touched her bare leg. He couldn't figure out where to put his hands and suddenly the room was just a little to hot.

"Perfect," Brii said her voice sinister in its success. She began combing Goku's hair as gently as she could manage. Although it seemed he had started cutting his hair taking a brush through it in the morning seemed to be to much hassle for him.

Brii of course knew exactly what she was doing with the boy. She'd sworn to herself long ago that she'd only have children with other elemental children. Back in heaven there wasn't any problem, they'd all been gathered together and the older boys were more then happy to court her, especially Vic who had wanted to leave the island just for that purpose. But chances were she'd never see any of the other elemental children. Not to mention none of them had been particularly attractive to her after puberty. Goku however was perfect. Not a bean pole like Poe, not a muscled giant like Vic, and he wasn't slimy like Kale. Goku was slightly muscled, could fight like the demon he was, polite, and completely naïve. This time around it would be Brii doing the courting, and if it took a couple of years for Goku to realize that she was interested.

"**Brii,** I've ..." Hakkai stopped mid sentence after opening the door a bag of supplies in hand and the white dragon on his shoulder. His smile was plastered on his face at the scene before him. Although Goku was no longer blushing there was still Brii's bare legs poking from around his back. The talk, it seemed would have to come sooner then they expected.

"Hi Hakkai, I'm brushing Goku's hair." Brii greeted innocently unwrapping her legs from Goku and standing up on the bed and bouncing off.

"I've got your hair dye." Hakkai said continuing unfazed setting the bag on the table.

"Did you get blue? I love blue." Brii asked coming up to the table.

"The point of dying your hair is to blend in."

"Purple? Green, that one dude had green hair." Brii said looking at the box that Hakkai had pulled out of the bag.

"Humans don't have green hair. I chose instead black. I thought with your skin so pale that black would look quite fetching." Hakkai said handing it over to Brii to examine further.

"Bah," Brii said setting the box down and going through the rest of the bag.

"I think black will look pretty on you." Goku said blushing again. Hakkai and Brii stopped what they were doing and looked back at Goku. "What?"

"Black it is then." Brii said picking up the box again and sitting down on the bed across from Goku to read the directions. Apparently Goku was more perceptive then she'd first thought or maybe it was just his glands. He'd probably gone through puberty since the last time she'd seen him after all.

End Chapter 6

A/N: I had to get into the romance aspect some time. Don't worry though I don't plan on it getting all sappy and cuddly or anything. Also, I had some caffine so that's why you're getting two chapters in a day. I'll probably even have another one by Thursday.


	7. End of the miniVillain

The Whisper of the Wind

A/N: Wow it's really been awhile. Well I got back into my fanfic phase and of course I eventually wandered back into saiyuki but of course as I was reading those fanfics I wondered why there weren't any non-yaoi one's of Goku. This led me to remember that "hey didn't I have a Goku fanfic going?" Which reminded me that hey, where'd I put that stuff. I should probably post it or something. So after a long sabbatical I've posted again.

The Whisper of the Wind

By: Dawnn's Grace

Chapter 7:

"**Brii's **hair smells." Goku complained even though he was technically upwind of her in the moving jeep.

"Your feet smell worse." Brii came back lamely as she sat on the spare tire watching the road they were passing by.

"Ah, is little Brii sleepy." Gojyo teased poking her in the side.

"Leave me alone or you'll be walking," she threatened shrugging away from the poke.

"Yeah, leave her alone Gojyo." Goku defended. Hakkai gave an interested glance to the back seat. Although Gojyo was supposedly chaperoning no one had actually watched to see if he had entered the room. Knowing Gojyo, it was very likely that he had spent the night in a woman's room.

"What happened did Goku keep you up?" Gojyo continued with his teasing

"No, your snoring did. I'm hungry. I'm going to go scavenge something." Brii said stepping off the tire and flying up.

"Wait, Brii, I'm hungry too." Goku whined.

"Relax chibi-monkey, the only thing she's going to go eat is sprouts or worms or something like that." Gojyo told him now bored that Brii wasn't there to pick on anymore.

"She does not eat worms you stupid kappa." Goku countered.

"Bettcha' she does, bettcha she likes to eat them alive and squirming."

"Does not you lecherous kappa."

"Does to stupid monkey."

"Does not red cockroach."

"Chibi-chimp."

"If you two don't keep quiet the worms will be eating you two." Sanzo threatened with his gun pointed at them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"**Nibbles**, nibbles, nibbles," Brii chanted as she continued flying up to get a better perspective of the terrain. She wasn't really hungry but it was a good excuse to get away from the boys for a while. She didn't like being reminded that her beautiful silver hair was now heavy with black dye. It just wasn't right in her mind no matter how much Goku tried to say it looked all right even as he complained about the smell.

Not to mention, six hours hanging on the back of jeep had already gotten very, very boring. Other then complain, call each other names, and the occasional game of cards, there really wasn't a whole lot they could do besides look at the passing countryside. Next town she had to get a book, or maybe a hobby, one that you could do when you were stuck sitting for hours on end.

"Nothin' but nothing around." She complained as she surveyed the scene. The jeep was taking a long relatively straight road heading towards some foothills. This part of the area though was filled with a bunch of old oaks and scrub. Not the best area for forging if you didn't like acorns and Brii hated acorns. The only good thing she'd ever had made of acorns was some sort of acorn mush and her foster mother had shown her how to make it. It took about three days to make and Brii was not a patient person.

"Oh, what have we here?" Brii said to herself as she caught sight of something moving on the ground. She wouldn't have seen it all the way up here if it hadn't been moving across the ground. Brii dove for it like a predatory bird, her nibble now in sight.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"**It** seems we have some company," Hakkai said rather spontaneously. The others in the jeep began looking around for the small army of youkai but they didn't find anything. Of course they hadn't looked up. The green energy ball nearly hit the front end of jeep which/whom was expertly driven out of the way by Hakkai.

"Ah, it's chia head again. Nyo-bo extend!" Goku complained. His Nyo-bo extended as he was lifted towards the villain of the week.

"And how do you expect to catch me like that stupid child." Chia-head, Gax, yelled as he floated out of the way of the strike.

"Shut up," Sanzo ordered as he took shots at Gax who continued to dodge around the sky.

"This would be a really good time to have Brii around." Gojyo said annoyed that the one time the girl might be useful she wasn't there.

"Why? I don't know how to fight." Brii said casually. The others turned around to see her calmly sitting on the hood of Jeep watching the fight with a medium sized snake in her mouth, raw, unskinned snake in her mouth, head first.

"Are you eating a snake?" Gojyo asked stunned.

"Now is not the time to comment on her eating habits Gojyo. Perhaps, though you don't know how to fight you could assist Goku by floating him closer to his target." Hakkai suggested.

"Yeah…sure I can do that easily enough. Here hold this." Brii said after a moment of pause. She pulled the snake out of her mouth and tossed it to Hakkai and flying up to where Goku continued to try and reach the flying villain, without losing his balance and without using his Nyo-bo which was the thing that was keeping him up so high in the first place. Gax though simply enjoyed flying around the land bound animal making rude comments and completely ignoring Sanzo who had decided to save his bullets since he couldn't hit the villain anyways.

Hakkai held up the headless snake with two fingers noting how she had apparently gnawed that part of the snake off and probably a decent amount of the snake's neck as well.

"That's worse then worms." Gojyo said turning around so he could look at the fight.

"Brace yourself Goku!" Brii announced. She flew up behind Goku and wrapped her arms around him lifting him and his Nyo-bo off their tentative touch of the ground and higher.

"What the…?"

"Just start swinging at the guy. You're not a light as you look." Brii said with a grunt. He really wasn't a little kid anymore.

"You insolent little brat you think you can make the difference in this battle." Gax shouted in outrage that made it clear that yes, Brii's actions were going to make a difference in this battle, even if he could fly faster then Brii carrying Goku.

"Take that Chiaman!" Goku shouted swinging his still extended Nyo-bo at the flying villain. Gax didn't have time to react as the Nyo-bo came from below and hit him between the legs.

"Ugh, that's gotta hurt." Goyjo commented from the ground. Goku's bo retracted back to its usual length taking away what support Gax had to stay in the air. He fell like a rock and into a random ravine filled with trees and brush so thick that they couldn't see the bottom from the sky.

"Come on let's go after him." Goku said excitedly bouncing up and down in Brii's arms.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! I'm gonna drop you if you keep that up." Brii said trying to get a better grip on the young elemental. This of course got Goku to stop moving period. The ground was a long way down and there was no need to test his luck and risk his life.

"What's up you're just going to let the bad guy go and not make sure he's dead." Gojyo said as soon as they got back to the ground.

"Maybe if you stopped feeding the kid whatever he wanted." Brii shot back before remember that she had been eating before she had stopped to help out Goku and Chiahead. "Hey, where's my nibbles?"

"Let's get going." Sanzo said tired of the whole conversation.

"Wait, Hakkai where's my food?" Brii asked again as the rest of the group moved towards Jeep.

"Come along Brii or you're likely to be left behind." Hakkai said instead.

"Hey Goku, she eats something worse then live worms." Gojyo said throwing an arm around Goku's shoulder as Jeep started to take off without Brii.

"What?" Goku asked besides himself.

"Raw snake with the skin still on and everything. It might've been alive when she started eating it to."

"Eeww gross, you're making that up you stupid kappa." Goku said shrugging out of the arm and taking his seat in the back.

"Am not you naïve little monkey."

"Perverted…pervert."

"Guys, where's my snake?" Brii whined as the others drove off without her. Goku shuddered as she affirmed Gojyo's statement.

"Hey Brii, we're taking off." Gojyo called back with a smile. The look on Goku's face, priceless. The panicked look on Brii's as she realized not only did she not have her nibbles she was being left behind, also priceless. Maybe having the chick around wasn't going to be such a bad thing after all. Gojyo put his arms behind his head and looked at the clear blue sky ahead of them, things were looking good.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lady Gyokumen Koushu sat on her throne looking down on the assassin commander that she had just sent out a few days ago. It wasn't that his report on his failure to destroy the Sanzo party and acquire their sutra was really surprising, or note worthy in her book. It was that he dared to show his face again especially to her. She had ordered him to give his life in an attempt to gain the sutra.

"You disappoint me…" she paused. She couldn't remember what the commander's name was. Honestly she was far to important to actually know the name of every bottom rung commander she sent out after the Sanzo party. It just wasn't practical.

"Gax, my lady." Gax said still not looking up. He was doomed. He knew it. She knew it. The guard at the gate who let him in knew it. And judging by the way servants gossiped, the entire palace knew it and possibly the taverns, depending on how soon people were let off duty.

"I didn't ask your name. I don't care what your name is. I did however very specifically tell you to get me the sutra from the Sanzo party. I was sitting right here in fact not three days ago." The lady continued.

"Somebody's in trouble." Ni told his fellow scientists against the wall.

"News my lady," Gax pleaded hoping it wasn't the last words out of his mouth.

"And what news is that?" The lady asked slightly more interested but not by much.

"They have a new member, the Sanzo party that is. A youkai girl is traveling with them. I don't know how powerful she is but was controlling the wind." Gax sputtered hoping that a little exaggeration wouldn't end his life.

"Tell me about her..." Ni said casually coming forward with an evil smile.

End of chapter 7

A/N: Yes, I know, I've been a bad girl. But it's summer vacation now so I shouldn't have any problem with updating somewhat regularly. After all I'm not leaving the house when it's already 90+ degrees Fahrenheit out.


	8. Or Something

Whisper of the Wind

**Whisper of the Wind**

Chapter 8:

Or Something

"…and then you have to saute them really well but not like charcoal well…" Goku continued as he tried to get Brii interested in something other then raw foods.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again. As soon as that food hits some sort of crockery I'm not interested anymore." Brii grumbled, bored and going on sleepy. Brii had finally given in and was sitting in the back seat, although she was leaning against Goku; despite the fact the boy continued to wave his hands around as he not only told Brii how to make various culinary concoctions, but also the showing her the right way to cook it.

"And if you add a little soy sauce in the mix it tastes much better." Hakkai put in from the front seat seemingly enjoying the small torture of Brii as well.

"Bleach," was the sound Brii made though she hadn't actually puked. She was though getting rather sleepy. With the sun nearly set she wanted to curl up somewhere and fall asleep. Aparently that wasn't the plan of the rest of the party though because Hakkai continued driving, Sanzo continued reading his paper even in the quickly waning light, and Gojyo continued smoking and looking at the passing scenary as if the rest of the passangers didn't exist.

"Okay, here's another one, this one you've got to try with rice. You start with…" Goku said starting on another recipe. Brii wanted to escape, she really did, but like most birds she was basically night blind. There was another sort of escape though.

"Goku, you can shut up now, you've successfully talked her to sleep." Gojyo said when he finally turned around to see Brii asleep leaning against Goku who was still narrating the cooking process of some food.

"I suppose it's a good time to stop as well," Hakkai said pulling over at the first clearing. The response from Sanzo was none, although he had already put his newspaper away unable to read in the poor light.

"About time Hakkai, what were you trying to do make up for lost time or something?" Gojyo complained as he hopped out of the jeep.

"Well, as a matter of fact. It seems wise if we could manage to get to our destination before winter." Hakkai pointed out.

(A/N: do they ever mention seasons in the manga? I know they mentioned the one year somewhere but the only seem that seems to change is the background for the little story lines.)

"We'd probably be there already if it wasn't for all these distractions." Sanzo complained getting out of the jeep himself. "Goku what are you waiting for?" Sanzo asked when he saw his young charge wasn't moving or clamoring for food.

"I can't move, I'll wake her up." Goku said quietly. The same sort of quiet he'd been since he'd discovered that Brii was sleeping.

"So?" Sanzo said raising an eyebrow.

"Just pick her up pip-squeak. If she hasn't woken up from all our talking she's not going to wake up when we replace you with a bag." Gojyo said getting the desired item and walking over to Goku's side of the car.

"Are you sure?" Goku asked still unsure.

"You can stop with all the diabolical planning, I'm up." Brii grumbled sitting up and streatching while she floated out of the car.

"I'm sorry I woke you up." Goku said as he got out of the side ignoring the fact that half his body had fallen asleep.

"It's okay. It was just a nap anyway." Brii answered looking over at Goku.

"Perhaps at the next town we should purchase Brii some boots." Hakkai said as he began the fire. There was plenty of fire wood and kindling with all the scrub around.

"Why boots?" Brii asked.

"Because perhaps boots will keep your feet on the ground." Hakkai said still all smiles as everyone looked at Brii's feet. They hovered two inches off the ground.

"That's weird." Goku said as he walked over to her.

"Well it's not like I really think about floating or anything it just happens." Brii defended.

"Hey watch this," Gojyo said pushing Brii down with one hand. When he let go she floated back up.

"Do that again and I'll give you a flying lesson." Brii threatened as she hovered to a different part of the camp.

"Hey Hakkai, where'd you get the meat?" Gojyo asked as he saw Hakkai adding diced meat to the cooking pot.

"Oh meat, we get meat for dinner?" Goku said eagerly. The easiest way to distract Goku from anything was to mention food after all.

"Brii donated the meat." Hakkai said all smiles despite the looks he was given from the rest of the part.

"That's my snake," Brii said more statement then question.

"But of course, in this company we share our food." Hakkai said continuing with the meal preperations.

"As long as it's cooked, I don't want to ever try to eat a snake raw like Brii does. That's just gross." Goku declared sitting down to watch the cooking pot.

"You can't say it's gross if you've never tried it before stupid." Brii said making an effort to actually sit on the ground. She decided before she'd finished speaking that it wasn't really worth the effort and started hovering.

"Steel toed boots would be the best, perhaps a nice shiny black pair." Hakkai suggested.

"Probably need to fill them with lead once she starts floating again." Gojyo continued.

"Perhaps if things get bad, but certainly it would be helpful to the quest if Brii could continue to fly about." Hakkai countered.

"How far can you fly in a day?" Sanzo suddenly asked unfolding the map with a snap.

"Depends," Brii answered.

"On?"

"Which direction mostly, that changes the length of a day by hours depending on which way I'm going. Oh and the season, you know how in winter the day's really short but in summer it seems like it goes on forever. There's like a three hour difference between day time in winter and summer." Brii told him seriously as she looked at the bag of rice Hakkai was measuring out for there meal tonight.

"Rice Brii?" Hakkai asked noticing her look of yearning.

"Sure, a cup of the raw stuff please." Brii said quickly floating over to his side where he gave her the measuring cup half full after he was done with measuring it for the meal. When Hakkai turned his back Brii stuck the measuring cup back into the bag and pulled it out brimming.

"I do hope you're not attempting to get more then your fair share of our stock Brii. I've tallied up what supplies we have to get us to the next village and it would be most unfortunate if someone disturbed my calculations." Hakkai said turning back. Brii felt like a deer in the headlights before her body came back to her and she dumped out most of the rice from the cup. "I thought not." Hakkai continued turning back to the meal preparations.

"Hakkai's kinda scary," Brii told Goku when she hovered back to where he was sitting.

"Only sometimes," Goku said unconcerned as he continued to look at the food preperations as if it was all his mind could focus on.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So you thinking of sending Brii out to scout or something?" Gojyo asked coming over to the priest who had purposely sat away from the sometimes wild group, especially when it came to meal time.

"Or something," Sanzo answered.

"Or something, wanna explain exactly what that something might be."

"No."

"Figures, I almost forgot I was talking to oh Mr. Worldly Priest for a second there." Gojyo complained walking off rather then starting an argument with said priest that would likely end in gunfire.

"Dinner's ready," Hakkai announced as Goku was already grabbing whatever he could and Brii whined about spoiling the meat by cooking it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So what are you planning for Brii?" Hakkai asked after everything had quieted down. The others were playing poker quietly for them.

"Everyone seems to be getting attached to the pest rather fast." Sanzo complained ignoring the question.

"Sanzo," Hakkai scolded.

"Other then picking up my smokes when I run out, nothing yet." Sanzo answered tapping out one of said smokes and lighting it.

"Good, because for a moment there I wondered if you would foolishly send Brii to the palace of the ox king by herself where she would certainly be in a good amount of danger." Hakkai said clearly stating that if he ever had any ideas like that it wouldn't happen anyways.

"Shit, I'm not going to send the kid on a suicide mission. If Goku had wings though you all wouldn't have a problem with sending him over to finish the job." Sanzo pointed out.

"Perhaps, but more likely having spent all that time coming this far, it would seem like such a disappointment if we didn't have any part of the final battle. And I'm fairly sure that Gojyo feels the same way."

"Fuck, if you two want to drive for another year go right ahead but I've got better things to do then play do gooder."

"Ah yes, you're quest to find the infernal Saiten Sutra." Hakkai said quietly and for a moment Sanzo thought that he would leave him alone but he instead continued. "But think, since they are collecting the five sutras don't you think the best place to look for the scripture would be at the palace.

And finally, Hakkai walked away leaving Sanzo to ponder in peace.

Chapter 8 End

A/N: Okay, not as quick as an update as I would've liked but still not bad considering my track record. I'll probably have the next one sometime this week but I'm not making any promises since I'm looking for a summer job.


	9. Nightmare

Whisper of the Wind

**Whisper of the Wind**

Chapter 9:

Nightmare

"Hello, is anybody out there?" Brii called through the heavy fog. No, it couldn't be fog because fog could be blown away. Hell, even smoke could be blown away. But no matter how hard she blew at the substance in the air it didn't budge for her.

Brii didn't even know exactly how she'd gotten here. Last night had been the usual bickerings about food and directions between the boys so she'd gone to sleep early. Waking up though there was no way she was in the same place. For one thing the forest didn't have a roof. That happened to be the first thing she'd figured out, quite painfully, figured out. Another thing was she'd been asleep in a tree. Even if Gojyo had managed to move her for some sort of prank there was no way he would've been able to move her into an enclosed area without setting off her own warning signals. Brii needed to be outside as a matter of principle. Suddenly being "inside" was more then disconcerting it was freaking her out.

"Anybody, come on guys. This isn't funny." She pleaded. Going in any direction wasn't helping. As far as she could tell the smoke filled room was infinite and the only disturbance of the still air was her own movement. It was like being in a huge crypt.

"Huge crypt, pleasant idea there Brii. Nothing like freaking yourself out." Brii said aloud just to hear something. The silence was nearly as oppressive as the still air. Somehow the smog was getting to her. There was no movement, she thought again unbidden.

"_A whisper on the wind she sighs."_

Brii nearly screamed when she heard the line from seemingly nowhere. A voice required breath, a movement of the air, but there was none, no clue where the speaker had come from. Then again if they didn't breathe and didn't speak with sound then Brii was fairly certain she didn't want to meet this person anyway.

"N_o breath but still air she dies."_

Brii was shaking now. She wanted to flee, anywhere everywhere, chase the sun and never stop in the darkness that the smog seemed to create but she couldn't. The roof stopped her, the thick smog stopped her, the breathless whisper on the air that somehow didn't disturb it stopped her.

"_Lost yet still she defies,"_

There was no movement but somehow he was talking. Heck, she couldn't even tell if it was a he or not. Panic was creeping in as she began imagining things creeping up on her. Impossible, she thought to herself. Nothing could creep up on her because there would be some movement in the air but there was nothing moving which meant that there was nothing creeping up on her. Unless it was a ghost. Damn you over active imagination, she scolded herself as she began spinning in place trying to catch sight of something moving. It was to dim for that though. She couldn't see something in such dim light.

"_Brii,"_ a cold hand settled on her shoulder stopping her from spinning around. Stiff as a board she looked down to see a corpse gray hand with black nails, the left hand.

"Poe?" Brii asked even as she turned her head to see, still seriously freaked out. The left hand was the death hand, as they'd called it. The death hand that was touching her. It was Poe and yet it wasn't. Poe wasn't corpse gray he'd always just been pale and he'd never let his hair be in such a disrespectful state. It was greasy and stuck to his head as if someone had poured a vat of cooking oil over his head.

"_Brii,"_ the Poe said again and there still was no movement of the air as if he didn't breathe, didn't need to breathe to speak either. Poe lifted his head and sightless white eyes starred at her. Her goosebumps got goosebumps as he starred past her into the haze. Brii looked to see another man standing there where there hadn't been anyone. So far away all she could really see was his smile and the glare of his glasses. But a glare implied light and if anything the world was getting darker.

"_You need to run now Brii,"_ Poe whispered to her. Brii couldn't move, she was to freaked out. "_Fly Brii, you can't let him catch you!"_

Brii shot up like a cork out of a champagne bottle not realizing that the roof had disappeared. She had to get away. And still, even without the roof the air didn't move but for the breeze she created with her own movements.

A/N: Alright, here's the deal. I appreciate all you guys out there in cyber space reading and more importantly reviewing WOTW. It does keep the story alive because I've got the alerts going to my actual e-mail and those I can't ignore. But I've got major writers block. This chapter, it means nothing, it might be forshadowing something or not because I have no idea where this story is going and no idea what I'm doing with it.

So here's the thing, I want you guys, the readers to pick where the story is going. Pick a general little plot for the next chapter, elaborate if you want, and I'll pick either the most popular one, or the one that randomly sparks inspiration.

End date: 9/25


	10. Distractions

Whisper of the Wind

**Whisper of the Wind**

Chapter 10:

Distractions

"Hey Brii, you okay?" Goku asked innocently when Brii fell out of the tree. He probably would've been more concerned if she had actually hit the ground but if she couldn't keep her feet on the ground half the time in boots she wasn't the type to get hurt from falling out of the tree.

"Goku, what?" Brii asked confused as she looked around the clearing, the same clearing she had been in when she'd gone to sleep. The fire had been coaxed up for breakfast in the center with Hakkai attending it, Sanzo was smoking and reading his newspaper ignoring the world, Gojyo was no where to be seen, and Goku was looking at her curiously as she floated directly under the tree she'd fallen asleep in the night before.

"Did you have a bad dream or something?" Goku asked helping her up to a standing position.

"Or something," Brii answered listening to the reassuring whisper of the wind, slightly stronger then it normally would have been but she was upset. When she was upset the wind sort of picked up.

"Do you want to talk about it? Hakkai says that sometimes it's better to talk about bad dreams so that you won't be scarred about them anymore." Goku offered.

"No thanks, I'm more of a ignore-the-whole-thing-and-hope-it-doesn't-happen-again sort of person." Brii answered. Then she focused more on what Goku had said. The wind steadied to the gentle breeze it had been before her sleep had become troubled. "Doesn't Sanzo listen to your bad dreams?"

"Well, no," Goku was actually blushing over it. "When I was little though he'd let me sleep on his floor and sometimes I'd sneak into his bed when he was asleep."

"Ah, da little monkey used to have bad dreams. And what was the little monkey afraid of?" Gojyo teased coming into the clearing after hearing the whole conversation.

"None of your business you stupid pervert," Goku defended and walked away to go about his own camp routine.

"Nightmares aren't something to kid about," Brii told him angrily more then a little off balance still from her own bad dream.

"Well shit, how was I supposed to know the little turd was going to take it so personally."

"What of your own nightmares, Gojyo. I'm sure there are more then a few demons haunting your sleep you wouldn't like the rest of us making light of." Brii hissed gliding away, to mad to even bother with the appearance of walking.

"Got a point there," Gojyo muttered to himself raking a hand through his hair, briefly touching the twin scars of his cheek.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Are we going to reach a town tonight? I'm so hungry I could eat a tree." Goku complained as they continued their long and monotonous journey westward. Brii had decided the backseat was still to crowded and was perched without her boots, on the top of the windshield in front of Sanzo. Sanzo was pointedly ignoring her current perch for the scenery out his window. Probably the only reason he wasn't throwing a stink about it was she never stayed to long preferring to fly around and look at things they were passing by.

"I'm afraid we're several days from the nearest town." Hakkai replied not taking his eyes off the road and the numerous potholes that this particular dirt road had.

"Hey Brii, can you go get us meat for dinner, pretty please?" Goku pleaded.

"I could bring back a cow and you wouldn't be satisfied." Brii replied still a little grumpy.

"Just something little then, a chicken, a rabbit, something. I want meat." Goku begged. Truth of the matter was they hadn't had any meat since Brii had brought back the snake two days ago. This stretch of road had very few towns and most were so far apart that Sanzo wasn't willing to detour for something so simple as a good meal and a comfortable bed. Which was also why Brii had been scolded by Hakkai for taking more rice. They had enough to get them to the next town on their route but only just.

Brii sighed heavily and let go of the front of the windshield with her feet, did a back flip, and was once again perched on the top of the spare tire so she could talk with Goku better.

"There's no chickens out here, it's scrub. Even if there was a chicken out there it would belong to someone. I might've been able to find a rabbit a few days ago but this…" Brii waved the surrounding scrub land that no longer boasted even a small copse of trees. Bracken and tumble weeds, long grasses, that was all that could be seen from where they were. The shade was the thing that was really getting to Brii and if it wasn't for the continuous breeze Brii carried with her the others might've been complaining about that to. "The only thing I can see catching in this place is a scrawny ass jack rabbit or another snake. Even the birds are avoiding this scrub."

"Brii, go get some meat." Sanzo ordered getting tired of the constant noise of the back seat.

"Excuse me, Mr. High and Mighty wants meat to. Well guess what, I'm not your hunting dog." Brii snapped sticking out her tongue.

"Perhaps a hunting falcon would be more appropriate." Hakkai put in.

"I've clothed you. I've let you follow us. I've let you eat at our table. You don't fight. You're a distraction to Goku. If you don't go and find some meat for the monkey, I'll put a bullet in your head and leave you on the side of the road." Sanzo snarled.

Brii didn't argue. She threw her hands out in surrender and was instantly pulled back by the wind. She found a good thermal and flew higher and higher until she was merely a dark spot against a blue sky.

"You didn't have to mean about it Sanzo." Goku said once she had left.

"I didn't want to hear you two arguing about it till dinner." Sanzo answered turning back to his view.

"No way she would've lasted till dinner." Gojyo put in deciding now was a good time for another cigarette.

"You're argument though brought a question to mind." Hakkai began. "If you don't want her around, why do you let her follow us?"

"I never said that. She might not be able to fight but if she's like Goku, then she isn't powerless." Sanzo answered.

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Brii was in a mood. Worse, she knew she was in a mood. Now there were a few options about what to do. She could hunt, just like Lord Sanzo had commanded her to do, and likely be in a mood until tomorrow. She could also not hunt, but then she'd have to deal with being called incompetent at hunting which would likely leave her in a bad mood from here to the next town and however long it took for the others to stop calling her incompetent. And finally, she could be mean and be in a good mood from now till the next nightmare.

Obviously being mean was the best option. The only problem with her prank was she needed to get her hands on at least two live snakes, and keep them alive till she got back to jeep. And she had to be quick about it. Her plan wouldn't work if they'd already stopped for the night and therefore weren't in an enclosed area anymore.

Hunting live snakes was an entirely different method from hunting dead snakes. Especially when you considered that she didn't know the local snake population and there fore didn't know which snakes, poisonous snakes, she should stay away from. If she did happen to find any poisonous snakes thought, she was going to cut the head off and leave it for dinner tonight. She couldn't live off of raw rice alone after all.

While hunting, Brii found something that was almost more interesting then her prank.

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"Brii's back." Hakkai said as he noted the young woman coming in low behind them. She was coming in quite fast though, he thought, as she didn't appear to have slowed at all from her dive.

As Brii, shot over the jeep she dropped two things into the back seat, two live things.

"Gah," Gojyo and Goku both said at the stunned and coiling snakes that had landed perfectly in their laps.

Hakkai nearly swerved off the road when Gojyo climbed into the front seat to get away from the striking snake. Goku decided to just jump out.

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"That wasn't funny Brii," Goku scolded though it didn't stop Brii's laughter. Even Sanzo taking the paper fan to her head hadn't dispelled the good mood the prank had put her in.

"From my view it was," she said tears in her eyes she was laughing so hard. "You never said you wanted your meat dead."

"As pointless as this distraction is, can we continue." Sanzo growled not liking that his fan attack had had no effect on the hysterical elemental.

"Wait, wait, before I forget," Brii began managing to get her laughter under control. "I saw a town while I was hunting. It's only like half a mile out of your way over that way. I figured since you guys don't seem to enjoy snake that much, you could pig out in town."

"Where exactly," Hakkai asked pulling out the map he had purchased a little disappointed that it was misleading.

"Right there, near the cliffs." Brii pointed out easily. After all, maps were from an aerial perspective and she was an aerial creature.

"Certainly not out of our way, Goku if you would release the snakes." Hakkai said getting back into the jeep.

"Why do I have to? Why can't Gojyo do it?" Goku complained as he watched the two snakes in the back seat coil ready to strike at him.

"Don't worry about it, I've got them." Brii said quickly grabbing both snakes from above and tossing them off to the side of the road. Arguments, meant gunfire, and she was in much to good a mood to deal with gunfire.

"Onward then," Hakka began pulling away before the boys had even jumped into the back seat. Brii started laughing again as she took to gliding above them.

A/N: Thanks to that one reader who sent a suggestion to me. I appreciate them. The suggestion that sparked my interest though came from a friend who doesn't belong to but sometimes reads the stuff I'm writing when I don't watch to closely.

His suggestion:

Ghost Town.

Hope you all enjoy.


	11. Ghost Town

**Whisper of the Wind**

Chapter 11:

Ghost Town

"Congratulations Brii, you've led us to a pit." Gojyo commented as they finally came close enough to see that the forty some buildings that made up the small village had no one between them. The place was abandoned.

"No way, I could've sworn I saw people." Brii whined floating above the back seat to get a better look.

"Get down anyway, there might still be people." Goku warned tugging her boot back down to the floor. Since they were going into town, Brii had been grounded so as not to startle any of the towns folk that were more then likely on edge about anything concerning youkai.

"I think Brii may have been right." Hakkai said sounding perplexed as he stepped out of Jeep along a main road. The others though didn't really see what he saw.

"What is it?" Sanzo asked steeping out himself. He'd already resigned himself to camping out in either a moldy old bed or his trusty bedroll.

"Peaches," Hakkai said picking one of the soft fruit from the basket sitting undisturbed on the side of the street. When he saw that his companions didn't understand he elaborated. "Peaches don't last very long in the sun and certainly some sort of animal would have browsed through them if they had been here for very long."

"So what, the people just up and left when they saw us coming?" Gojyo asked as the final three piled out of Jeep and Jeep transformed to his dragon form.

"Possibly," Hakkai said with a big grin to disguise what he was really thinking.

"Spread out," Sanzo told them as he found a convenient bench and unfolded his newspaper with a snap.

"What are we looking for?" Goku asked as Brii took a bigger interest in the peaches Hakkai was still standing over.

"For the people dumbass, and if you feel like it, some food." Sanzo ordered not even looking away from the paper.

"Brii, please don't eat the peaches, including you Goku. No one eat anything here. There might be some sort of poison involved in the disappearance of the villagers." Hakkai spoke up as Brii went to reach for one.

"No fun, I only get a small cup of rice. Now I can't even pilfer some just deserts." Brii grumbled. She grabbed Goku's hand and stomped off in one direction.

"Shall we?" Hakkai asked Gojyo.

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"So what are we looking for again?" Gojyo asked as they walked through the tenth abandoned house. All seemed as if the person had decided to just up and walk away sometime soon. Not only was it the lack of rot from everything edible that was left out, it was bowls of oatmeal left on the tables undisturbed by even the flies.

"Signs of where these people have gone." Hakkai reminded him for the tenth time.

"And what do you expect the kids to find?"

"Well you aren't exactly a help either." Hakkai pointed out taking the time to smile at him.

"Hey, that's not what I meant. I'm just thinking in horror movies, the couple always goes out and gets whacked by the masked murderer while they're doing it."

"Well if they're doing anything of the sort, then I'm sure they'll deserve it for not paying attention to their surroundings in a place like this." Hakkai answered objectively though he doubted Brii and Goku were doing anything of the sort. Goku's obvious innocence aside, Brii was more then likely searching very hard for signs of the people she claimed to have seen just this afternoon.

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"Think Goku, where have all the people gone, at the same time?" Brii asked as she looked at the dirt before sighing in frustration. She could never read tracks in the dirt. Not because she never learned, simply the breeze that followed her everywhere.

"The dinner table," Goku put in as his stomach growled to accent the point.

"No, people eat dinner at different times. There's no way an entire town would get up to eat at the same time." Brii answered having almost forgotten she was asking aloud.

"They would if they were all eating together." Goku suggested.

"Big community meeting, that one I could buy. So where does this happening of everybody in town happen." Brii asked wanting to float up and just pick the biggest building in town.

"The inn."

"This place is to small to boast an inn and doesn't show up on a map. The best they could boast is a bed and breakfast and no way would they fit everybody in a bed and breakfast."

"The mayors house."

"Problem is we don't know which house is the mayors. We'd have to look in them all. Think, how can we find them all without looking into all the houses. We've got to be smart about this if we want to beat Hakkai to them."

"The temple."

"Yeah, people like to gather at holy sites for some forsaken reason. There's the temple over there." Brii said happily as she spotted the strange roof from where she was standing.

"Race you to it." Goku called out as he got a head start.

"No fair, Hakkai says I'm grounded." Brii whined as she tried to catch up to him on her own two and rarely used feet.

"Beat ya," Goku laughed tagging the door of the church for emphasis.

"Yeah on foot, big deal." Brii huffed grabbing the handle of the other door. Without cue they opened the building at the same time to look and see if the people where here.

The smell of the place was the first thing that hit them. It smelled like a slaughterhouse during the summer. They'd found the villagers. Sitting in the pews were the villagers. From the back they looked normal if somewhat sleepy. Many were leaning on each other but only the smell hinted at something wrong. And for Brii the lack of breath was another sign.

"Hello," Goku asked tentatively as he walked farther in. Brii was stepping back. After her dream she didn't want to be anywhere near that many people who weren't breathing.

"Come hither young urchin," a shadowy man said. He stepped forward to the podium as if he were about to preach. "Come hither and know the mercy of your gods."

Goku summoned his nyo-bo as all of his senses told him he was in danger. He'd walked far enough in to see the fronts of the people. Their guts had been ripped out and were sitting in their laps. They didn't even look like they'd tried to stop it or anything. Their hands were sitting next to them or holding books as if they had just let someone rip their guts out. And their faces were freakily peaceful. The smell of blood overpowered everything which told him that among all the victims the attacker hadn't pierced a single bit of intestine. The black carpet under his feet was squishy with the blood and the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end as he approached the speaker.

"Why'd you kill all these people?" Goku asked though it didn't matter. He was going to kick the guys ass anyway, human or youkai.

"Because my god demanded it of me. And now he commands me to kill you and your companions as well." The man said with a dark voice.

"Ahh," Brii screamed from outside the church.

Goku spun around looking to see if Brii was in trouble. She wasn't in trouble though, he was. The dead villagers were standing up and looking at him like he was the main course.

"Gah, the dead can't walk." Goku said swinging his nyo-bo to knock those blocking his way to he door on their ass. He was getting out of here. This church was way to creepy.

"Oh but these can, and soon young one you will join my walking dead as well." Came the voice of the shadowy man. The door slammed shut. Goku turned around the suddenly darkened church to look for the shadowy man and kick his ass. He wasn't there anymore.

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"Necromancer! Necromancer!" Brii was screaming as she flew through the streets to find the others. Nothing short of a god was going to keep her feet on the ground when she was that freaked out.

"Brii, where's Goku?" Hakkai asked coming out of one of the houses first. Gojyo came out right after looking both ways down the street as if he expected to see the monkey suddenly appear.

"The necromancer has him. We've got to go save him." Brii said in a rush. She grabbed one of each of their hands and began dragging them back to the temple at full speed. She couldn't really pick them up and fly them over there. But she could speed fast enough while holding their hands that if they didn't keep up they would be dragged.

"What happened Brii?" Hakkai struggled to ask. Brii was obviously in a panic or else he would've managed to get his hand back. Brii had a death grip on him though, and the slight little youkai girl sure had a grip.

"We-figured-the-people-probably-gathered-somewhere-and-the-only-place-we-could-really-come-up-with-was-the-temple-but-when-we-got-to-the-temple-we-found-all-the-people-and-they-were-dead-and-then-there-was-this-guy-and-all-the-dead-were-walking-and-now-Goku's-trapped-in-the-temple-with-the-necromancer." Brii said in one rushed breath. Impossibly, she didn't seem in the least out of breath. Then again she was the elemental of wind.

"Goku's found the bad guy and is probably going to hog up all the fight." Gojyo said seeming to have selective hearing.

"Brii, go get Sanzo. We'll help Goku." Hakkai assured her when they came into sight of what could only be the temple.

"Yes sir," Brii snapped out. She let go and did a vertical U-turn heading back down the street at near supersonic speeds. After all, she knew right where Sanzo would be and even he oughta be worried about a necromancer.

"Shall we?" Hakkai asked as they approached the temple.

"Quick question: what's a necromancer?"

"I'm afraid I haven't the faintest. It's probably a word to describe some sort of person at least five hundred years ago but has fallen into disuse." Hakkai dismissed as he reached for the door.

"A necromancer can raise the dead." Said the shadowy man standing in the shadow of the church. Hakkai and Gojyo left the door to go around the side of the church and saw the shadow man, still not getting a clear view of him.

"You the dumbass who killed this village." Gojyo demanded though he didn't really expect an answer.

"Like I told your young friend, of course. It's what I do." They could see the grin and it seemed to freeze the hot and dusty air. "And now, I'm going to kill you."

"No way a chicken shit like you killed Goku." Gojyo said not even hearing the little shrimp anywhere.

"Oh but I'm very good at killing, but I'm even better at raising the dead." The man seemed to melt into the side of the building but there was a bigger problem they were left to deal with. The ground on that side of the church was heaving up and hands, some covered in flesh - some not, were digging, clawing their way to the surface.

End WOTW 11

A/N: Wow, you all say, I'm actually posting regularly. How can such a thing be possible? I've got a lot of inspiration for this little arc right now. What with Halloween coming round again and my sister helping to pull off a haunted house and there fore me getting stuck with helping with the haunted house. Expect these regular little updates until the arc is complete, then who knows, I'd ask for suggestions but you don't know where I'm leaving off so, ha. I've actually got three chapters saved up. I'm so proud of myself.


	12. Stairway to Hell

Whisper of the Wind

A/N: Quick note, yes I know Buddhists don't bury their dead. They prepare them and leave them out for scavengers to eat as the last gift and all that. So what I'm going to do is pretend that this entire town is Christian. They've gone far enough west to hit a Christian town. Also these are more like the classical literature form of zombies, not the new cinematic zombies. Shooting them in the head won't stop them.

**Whisper of the Wind**

Chapter 12:

Stairwell to Hell

The small church cemetery seemed to heave and tear at the sites of the individual graves. The sightless dead heads with an ungodly amount of animation turned toward Hakkai and Gojyo.

"Maybe we should've had Brii clarify things for us before we sent her to fetch Sanzo." Hakkai said with a disturbed smile as the zombies either walked or dragged themselves toward the duo.

"What'd'ya mean 'we', you're the one who did it." Gojyo said summoning his weapon and beginning to chop at the undead army slowly making their way.

While Gojyo chopped at those still farther away, Hakkai sent a chi blast through their ranks incinerating a good dozen. It wasn't enough though. Those that Gojyo had chopped continued to make their way towards them seemingly unheeding to the fact that their torso was split in half, heads were missing, or limbs were severed. Even the limbs continued to make their way mindlessly.

The ranks began to encroach and Hakkai began to have more trouble. His fancy karate moves were having little effect on the undead. While breaking collar bones and such would surely incapacitate a youkai grunt the zombies didn't seem to care. They simply got back up and went after him again and they were strong. Both he and Gojyo were collecting a goodly amount of bruises from being grabbed.

"This isn't working Hakkai, any other ideas?" Gojyo asked as he threw another off his back and slashed at one to his side. Pretty soon he wasn't going to have enough room to swing let alone defend himself from these fiends.

"I'm open to any suggestions." Hakkai said still calm. He did a flip out of the knot of zombies and threw another chi blast. Though effective he certainly didn't have enough chi blasts to level the entire army, not even if they politely stood in a line for him.

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"Sanzo! Sanzo! There's a necromancer Sanzo! You've got to go help the others!" Brii demanded in a very panicked voice as Sanzo continued to ignore her to read his paper.

"And why do you think I need to help those idiots?" Sanzo asked gruffly more then a little annoyed at Brii's state. Because she was panicked the wind had picked up significantly and it was making it difficult to read his newspaper.

"It's a necromancer! Necromancers are weak against holy magic!" She answered after a long pause. Really, what did Goku see in this person, either incarnation and he was still a complete bastard, she thought to herself.

"Those idiots can do it by themselves. One thing they're good at is taking care of unnecessary distractions." Sanzo replied putting away his newspaper because it wasn't worth the trouble of reading it in the increasing gale. "Will you calm down?"

"Not until you help them, or else." Brii bristled.

"Or else what," Sanzo asked threateningly pulling out her gun.

"Or else this," Brii answered. The wind picked up to a scream forming a cyclone with Brii at it's center. Sanzo was unprepared with just how violent Brii had responded and was instantly sucked into the vortex. Brii moved quickly dragging the Sanzo-cyclone down the road, tearing up fences and roofing as she made her way to the temple.

The bullets flying from Sanzo's gun hardly even fazed Brii in this state. Goku was in trouble, the other boys were probably in just as much trouble by now, and Sanzo was going to help whether he wanted to or not. Priests were the best answer to necromancers and Sanzo was the closest priest, no matter how sanctified he acted.

Turning the corner though broke her concentration. The street before the temple was filled with the undead bodies heading right towards them. Gojyo and Hakkai were trying their hardest to fend off the army but short of hacking at every joint there was nothing those two could do to stop them now that Hakkai was out of chi blasts.

The cyclone dissipated dropping Sanzo like the proverbial rock, right onto the ground.

"I'll kill you later," Sanzo glared at Brii before walking the rest of the way toward the army of dead.

"Well it's about time your holiness, what took you so long?" Gojyo demanded not turning around. If he did then he probably would've added a snide comment or two about Sanzo's wind tussled hair.

"Don't you idiots know how to kill by now," Sanzo snipped before pulling out the scroll and using the Makai Tenjo on the undead army, putting them to their final rest, again (who can resist zombie puns, hehehe).

"Impressive, impressive, but that will hardly get you your friend back I must say." The shadow man applauded.

The door to the church had opened while Sanzo had been chanting and the shadow man stood in the doorway looking at them. Now that he was in the light, he looked like one of his zombies. Gray bits of flesh were pealing from his face revealing red-brown the color of rotting meat. Though most of his body was fleshy, if not rotting, his gloves were removed to reveal the bones were devoid of any meat, and polished to a shimmering white.

"I hardly expected you to stir to help your companions, and I certainly didn't expect you to be so adequate at the priestly arts." The shadow man said quietly, almost to himself. One glove hit the ground and the second soon followed it.

"And I didn't expect a necromancer to stir himself from his coffin for the likes of youkai." Sanzo replied.

"Touché, but it's not for just any youkai. My Lord summons me and I must answer." The shadow man straightened himself. Bones could be heard popping and he went from straightening himself to growing taller.

"Another lackey of Kougaiji." Gojyo sneered.

"Hardly, forgive me for saying this but the young prince wouldn't dare disturb my bones." The shadow man continued to grow, talking as if the strange transformation wasn't in the least bit painful, though the sound of the popping bones, and now the tearing of the rotted flesh, certainly seemed painful.

"To bad for you," Sanzo said aiming the gun at his head and firing. The blast did little more then knock the growing shadow man on his back, but it did give Sanzo enough time to repeat the chant and obliterate the undead necromancer.

"Goku!" Hakkai called into the darkened church.

"Goku!" Brii yelled louder flying into the church. Sometime between when she'd dropped Sanzo off, and now she had managed to get her boots off. If she was really lucky, Hakkai would forget about them when they took off and she wouldn't have to wear them anymore.

"You sure this is where you left the monkey?" Gojyo asked as the rest of the group entered the church.

"No, gee, I guess I left him at the other zombie filled church in this crappy town." Brii snapped whirling on Gojyo.

"Now Brii, calm down. We'll find Goku. And Gojyo please think before you speak." Hakkai broke up the fight still calmly though it was obvious his smile was more then a bit strained.

"Shut up," Sanzo commanded suddenly.

"What the hell for?" Gojyo asked turning on Sanzo. Sanzo didn't respond, he just glared as Gojyo and aimed his gun at him. At that range Sanzo couldn't miss.

They listened figuring that was what Sanzo was talking about. The whistling of the wind was most prominent with the door open and Brii still upset. Sanzo sent her a look and Brii tried her best to quiet the wind. When the wind quieted down they all heard it. Drip, drip, drip, the only problem was the floors were carpeted.

They moved as one towards the stage which was wooded. Across the alter table what looked like the priest of this church had been quartered his mouth still open in a silent scream. The blood dripped but the echo was coming from below. Gingerly, Gojyo and Hakkai moved the alter revealing a steep and narrow stair.

"Alright, who wants to go down the creepy dark stair way to hell first?" Brii asked.

END WOTW 12

A/N: Long live Halloween. I'll be honest, I don't even know how long this story arc is going to be but I do know that I'll be updating regularly for a while. And for those of you who haven't noticed yet it'll be Thursday evenings. No two per week either, that'll just exhaust the spare chapters I've managed to save up and then you'd end up having to wait six months again for an update. And no one wants that, now do they.


	13. Lost in the Catacombs

**Whisper of the Wind**

Chapter 13:

Lost in the Catacombs

"All right, who wants to go down the creepy narrow dark stairway to hell first?" Brii asked as they all looked down the darkened passage. It seemed strange that none of them seemed to be disturbed by the fresh corpses populating the church but apparently they had other things in mind, like getting Goku and getting the hell out of town.

"It does seem somewhat unwelcoming doesn't it." Hakkai stated unnecessarily. Sanzo wasn't having any of it though. He grabbed one of the presence lamps and began walking down the stairs.

"Are you idiots coming or not?" He asked as he continued. Unfortunately there was only one more lamp which Hakkai grabbed first.

"After you two. I think a lamp at the fore and a lamp at the back would be the best strategy." Hakkai said with his plastered on smile.

"This is not going to end well," Brii mumbled to herself following Sanzo into the darkness that seemed to swallow the light of the lamp.

"Gojyo," Hakkai motioned with his lantern.

"Why don't I just stay up here with the things?"

"Now, now, Jeep is more then capable of watching our things. If you would," again he motioned with the lantern.

"This is not going to end well, not well at all." Gojyo mumbled mimicking Brii.

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"No way a town this size had a catacombs this deep," Brii pointed out after twenty minutes of walking down the stairs. She'd personally been rather surprised when they'd all gotten into the stairway and the door hadn't closed behind them. Apparently the bad guys weren't trying to freak them out, they just happened to be doing it on accident.

"It does make one wonder just how much time our opponents had to prepare for our arrival." Hakkai continued.

"Or how they knew we'd be here at all," Gojyo said starring at Brii's back accusingly.

"Hey I've been out of that cage for all of a month, I haven't even met one of your enemies I'd be willing to hang out with let alone betray ya'll for." Brii answered spinning in place to glare at him.

"Now, now Gojyo, I'm sure someone has reported to our enemies that Brii is with us. It's reasonable to assume that we'd head for this village, even if it wasn't on the map, just because Brii spotted it from the air." Hakkai explained before getting a wicked smile. "Not to mention with Brii's infatuation with Goku she would hardly put him in danger."

"I'm not infatuated with him," Brii said turning red and spinning around to stare very hard at Sanzo's back.

"There's no need to be shy about one's feelings Brii." Hakkai continued.

"We're in a dark creepy stairway, can we not talk about this now." She stated wishing Sanzo would go faster because she wanted to go faster, but there was no way she was going anywhere without a lamp.

"We're here," Sanzo declared stopping suddenly. Brii nearly ran into him, Gojyo did run into her which made her bump into Sanzo.

"Sorry," Brii muttered quickly slipping above them all to enter the catacombs to the limit of the light.

The place was huge, the ceiling reaching far beyond their light, soft condensation hung in the freezing air almost like fog, and the rough stone floor was covered in pillars of stone, each one different then the last, disagreeing even on the style.

"The monkey better not be lost in that," Gojyo cursed. Surprisingly there wasn't an echo to his voice. Brii was curious about just how high the ceiling went that it didn't cause an echo, but in light of recent events, and her sudden phobia to anything even resembling fog, she wasn't inclined to go and see.

"It seems our adversaries had quite a bit of time to plan our arrival." Hakkai said standing besides Sanzo so their small pool of light seemed just a bit brighter.

"This is like the opposite of that Kami asshole." Gojyo said.

"We're going this way," Sanzo said starting to walk along the left hand wall. The others fell in step, or floated above, near him. The silence of the place though didn't last for long.

CRASH!

"Where'd it come from?" Sanzo asked Hakkai looking into the darkness of the forest of pillars.

"I'm afraid I didn't hear it well enough for that, Sanzo." Hakkai answered.

"It came from about two hundred feet that way," Brii answered as the wind conveyed the information for her. "And what ever did it is moving this way."

CRASH!

"And either it's blind without light, or is intentionally letting us know its coming." Hakkai analyzed setting his lamp down.

"Any chance it's the monkey?" Gojyo asked though he summoned his weapon anyway.

"That's…" CRASH, Brii continued, "…not Goku. And whatever it is smells like it hasn't had a bath in a few years."

"Brii, can you tell how many there are?" Hakkai asked suddenly.

"What do you mean how many? There's one of those things Hakkai." Gojyo answered.

"Uh, oh," Brii said whirling to her left and then her right. "Um, guys, we're surrounded. The big boy was just the distraction."

"I thought as much," Hakkai said sounding somehow pleased with himself.

"Welcome to the Pillar Forest." Came a guttural humor filled voice. Entering into the light was a huge werewolf, standing on his hind legs, his fur filled with clumps of grease. Slobber gathered at the tips of his muzzle and his eyes were clouded. For dramatic effect he pushed over the ten foot column next to him, sending it crashing to the ground.

"And your grave," a whinny voice cackled from their left. More of the werewolves moved into the light though they all had clouded eyes. The pack was blind, but it didn't seem as if it had hindered them.

"They're not youkai, and yet they have the same tried and tired dialogue." Hakkai said as normally as if they had just been stopped by an army of youkai on the road.

"And at least the youkai bathe once in a while." Gojyo continued as he got a whiff of the rank breath of those closest to them.

"Ugly, boring, and smelly, same shit, different species." Sanzo said coolly aiming the gun at the massive leader in front. Three shots in the chest. The pack snickered as the one in front let out a bellow of a laugh.

"And he promised this would be a challenge." Big and smelly said when he'd stopped laughing. "Rip them limb from limb."

Seven slobbering, grease clumped, werewolves jumped towards the three sanzo party members on the ground. Without worrying about the consequences Gojyo shoved Sanzo behind him and against the wall, slashing with his sickle and chain, cutting through the first rank of werewolves.

"Where's the monkey when you need him?" Gojyo wondered aloud as he found himself dealing with the werewolf threat, basically by himself. At least this time when he cut through an opponent, they stayed down long enough to writhe in pain for a bit before they got back up.

"Cut their heads off," Brii called from above. From her birds eye view she could tell that some of the werewolves weren't getting back up and they were the ones with their heads cut off, or mostly cut off in one gruesome example.

More then a few werewolves jumped back both in surprise at Brii being above them, since they hadn't scented her, and at the possibility of getting their heads cut off by the enchanted weapon.

"Oh, so that's what it takes to take you suckers down." Gojyo laughed as he set about to demolishing the pack. He swung in lower then before, planning on taking them at their knees before he beheaded them.

"Is anyone else getting tired of these Halloween rejects, or is it just me?" Sanzo asked once Gojyo had taken care of the final werewolf that hadn't run away into the dark.

"This whole scenario seems somewhat familiar though." Hakkai pondered.

"Reminds me of the kami reject and his fucked up house of fun." Gojyo answered.

"You guys already said that and I don't even know the story behind this kami guy." Brii said feeling a bit better now that the monsters hiding in the dark were beheaded.

"Brii, find us a door. I have a feeling we'll be going down." Sanzo ordered lighting a cigarette.

Brii made a face at him before flapping her wings in an exaggerated manner. It might have even been funny looking if each flap of her arm sent a gale force gust ripping across the forest of pillars knocking more then a couple of them over from their force. Brii made another face and before the others could ask what was the matter she threw her hands out faster sending her winds flying out fast enough to crack the hardier pillars that lay directly in front of them. The wind was so loud that they couldn't even ask Brii what the problem was until she finally stopped and the wind quit whistling.

"Which way?" Sanzo asked re-lighting his cigarette.

"I don't know." Brii answered glaring at the darkness around her as if it had misdirected her winds on purpose.

"What d'ya mean you don't know? After all that puffing you don't know if there's even a door out there." Gojyo asked in disbelief.

"Oh I know there's a door out there, I just don't know where it is. These pillars are splitting up my winds too much. I can't track if over that many paths." Brii answered disgruntled. Sanzo growled but said nothing as he continued moving along the wall he had been before the werewolves had so rudely interrupted them.

"Hey Brii, I'll give you ten bucks if you go touch the ceiling." Gojyo said pointing up for added effect.

Brii gave the darkness above them one horrified look before turning back to Gojyo. "Not for all the diamonds in Solomon's mines."

A/N: Yes, I know I stopped updating. But that's why you should put me on your Author Alert page that way you'll know when I'm updating. Chances of a streak coming out of this posting, 50/50. Why am I posting? Because someone did something that made the bot send me something and when I see something in my e-mail box then I can't help but give ya'all something in return. Hope you enjoy.


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